Python Program to return the Length of the Longest Word from the List of Words

When it is required to return the length of the longest word from a list of words, a method is defined that takes a list as parameter. It iterates through each word to find the maximum length and returns it.

Example

Below is a demonstration of the same ?

def find_longest_length(word_list):
    max_length = len(word_list[0])
    temp = word_list[0]

    for element in word_list:
        if len(element) > max_length:
            max_length = len(element)
            temp = element
    return max_length

word_list = ["ab", "abc", "abcd", "abcde"]
print("The list is :")
print(word_list)
print("The result is :")
print(find_longest_length(word_list))

Output

The list is :
['ab', 'abc', 'abcd', 'abcde']
The result is :
5

Using Built-in Functions

Python provides a more concise approach using the max() function with the key parameter ?

def find_longest_length_builtin(word_list):
    return len(max(word_list, key=len))

word_list = ["Python", "Programming", "Code", "Development"]
print("The list is :")
print(word_list)
print("The longest word length is :")
print(find_longest_length_builtin(word_list))

The list is :
['Python', 'Programming', 'Code', 'Development']
The longest word length is :
11

Comparison

Explanation

• A method named 'find_longest_length' is defined that takes a list as parameter.

• The length of the first element is assigned to a variable as initial maximum.

• The list is iterated over, and every element's length is checked to see if it is greater than the current maximum length.

• If so, this is assigned as the new maximum length.

• The maximum length is returned as output.

• The built-in approach uses max() with key=len to find the longest word, then returns its length.

Conclusion

Use the manual loop approach for learning purposes and when you need more control. Use the built-in max() function for cleaner, more Pythonic code in production.