Python TypeError: list object cannot be interpreted as an integer

Python shows TypeError: list object cannot be interpreted as an integer when you use a list where an integer is expected.

This article shows two common cases where this error occurs:

Pass a list to the range function

One common case where this error occurs is when you pass a list to the range function:

# passing a list to the range function:
my_list = [1, 2, 3]

# 👇️ range expects an integer, but a list is passed
for i in range(my_list):
    print(i)

The range function can only accept an integer argument, but we passed a list in the example above.

This causes Python to respond with the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ...
    for i in range(my_list):
TypeError: 'list' object cannot be interpreted as an integer

To solve this error, you need to pass an integer instead of a list to the function that causes the error.

If you want to iterate over a list with a for loop, you can pass the list directly as follows:

my_list = [1, 2, 3]

for i in my_list:  # ✅
    print(i)

# 1
# 2
# 3

If you also need the index value in the for loop, then you can use the enumerate function.

The enumerate function returns the index and value of a list, so you need to define two variables in the for loop like this:

my_list = ['z', 'x', 'c']

for idx, val in enumerate(my_list):  # ✅
    print(idx, val)

# 0 z
# 1 x
# 2 c

The my_list values are changed so that you can see the difference better.

The indices are 0, 1, 2 and the values are z, x, c. The enumerate function allows you to use the index values in your for statement.

Pass a list to the pop function

You can also get this error when you pass a list to the list.pop function:

my_list = [1, 2, 3]

my_list.pop([1])

Python responds with the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ...
    my_list.pop([1])
TypeError: 'list' object cannot be interpreted as an integer

The pop function accepts only an integer argument that represents the index of the element you want to pop from the list.

You need to remove the square brackets surrounding the argument as follows:

my_list = [1, 2, 3]

val = my_list.pop(1)  # ✅

print(val)  # 2

Keep in mind that you need to pass an integer instead of a list, not a list with integer elements.

To conclude, the Python TypeError: list object cannot be interpreted as an integer means you are passing a list to a function that expects an integer value.

To solve this error, don’t pass a list to the range function, and use enumerate if you want to iterate over a list with index value included.

You also need to pass an integer to the pop function as shown in this article.

Now you’ve learned how to solve another Python error. Nice work!