# Remove Duplicate Items from a List in Python Safely

> Convert a Python list to a set to remove duplicates, or use dict.fromkeys() or a for loop to remove duplicates while preserving the original list order

**URL:** https://sentry.io/answers/remove-duplicates-in-a-python-list/

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## The Problem

How can I remove duplicate elements from a list in Python?

## The Solution

The simplest way to do this is to convert our list into a `set`, a Python data structure that cannot contain duplicates, and then convert it back to a list. For example:

```python
list_with_duplicates = [5, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1, 3, 5]
list_without_duplicates = list(set(list_with_duplicates))
print(list_without_duplicates)
# will print [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
```

As we can see, this method does not preserve the order of the list. If we want to remove duplicates while preserving the list order, we can use [`dict.fromkeys`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#dict.fromkeys) to create a new dictionary using the list items as keys, and then convert that dictionary back into a list:

```python
list_with_duplicates = [5, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1, 3, 5]
# remove duplicates while preserving list order
list_without_duplicates = list(dict.fromkeys(list_with_duplicates))
print(list_without_duplicates)
# will print [5, 2, 4, 1, 3]
```

This works because keys in a dictionary must be unique, and since [Python 3.7](https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.7.html), keys are ordered according to when they were inserted. However, it may be considered unclear. A more straightforward alternative would be to use a `for` loop:

```python
list_with_duplicates = [5, 2, 2, 4, 4, 1, 3, 5]
list_without_duplicates = []
for item in list_with_duplicates:
    if item not in list_without_duplicates:
        list_without_duplicates.append(item)

print(list_without_duplicates)
# will print [5, 2, 4, 1, 3]
```

This loop adds items from the first list to the second list, skipping any items that are already present.

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*Source: [sentry.io/answers/remove-duplicates-in-a-python-list/](https://sentry.io/answers/remove-duplicates-in-a-python-list/)*