Python : how to find the index of the maximum and minimum values in a list

Question

I want to find the index of the maximum/minimum elements in a list or Numpy array. What function should I use? I do not want to use loop to find min and max.

Answer 1

Numpy's where() function can be used to find the index of the maximum or minimum element in a list or NumPy array.

Here is an example:

    >>> import numpy as np
    >>> x=np.array([12,14,6,18,20,2])
    >>> np.where(x == np.max(x))[0]   #for max
    array([4])
    >>> np.where(x == np.min(x))[0]  #for min
    array([5])

You can also use argmax() and argmin() functions to find the index of maximum and minimum values respectively.

E.g.

>>> import numpy as np
>>> x=np.array([12,14,6,18,20,2])
>>> np.argmin(x)
5
>>> np.argmax(x)
4