Python max() Function

Returns the largest value in a list of parameters or in an iterable.

Syntax

Python

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max(iterable1, iterable2, ..., key = None, default = None)
max(item1, item2, ..., key = None)

Parameters

Parameter	Description
`iterable1, iterable2, ...`	Required. A list of iterables containing the items to be compared. In this form at least one iterable must be passed to the function, and the largest item from all items in all iterables will be returned.
`item1, item2, ...`	Required. A list of items to be compared. In this form at least 2 items must be passed to the function.
`key`	Optional. A function that returns, for each item, a representative value for that item for use in the comparison.
`default`	Optional. If the iterable is empty then this value is returned.

Example

Python

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print(max(1, 3, 2))
nums = [10, 40, 30, 20]
print(max(nums))

Output

3
40

Notes

If the iterable is empty, max() will throw a ValueError exception unless a default value is provided:

Example:

Python

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try:
    max([])
except ValueError:
    print('An empty collection has no max value.')

print(max([], default = 0))

Output:

An empty collection has no max value.
0

If the key parameter is used to provide a function, the number return of that function is used to determine the maximum value in the collection. In the following example, the len() function is used to determine which string is the longest.

Example

Python

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myList = ['small', 'bigger', 'very big']
print(max(myList, key = len))

Output:

very big