> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sourcery.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# List Literal

#### Sourcery refactoring id: `list-literal`

#### Description:

Replaces lists created with `list()` with `[]`

#### Before:

```python
x = list()
```

#### After:

```python
x = []
```

#### Explanation:

The most concise and Pythonic way to create a list is to use the `[]` notation.

This fits in with the way we create lists with elements, saving a bit of mental
energy that might be taken up with thinking about two different ways of creating
lists.

```python
x = ["first", "second"]
```

Doing things this way has the added advantage of being a nice little performance
improvement.

Here are the timings before and after the change:

```
$ python3 -m timeit "x = list()"
5000000 loops, best of 5: 63.3 nsec per loop
```

```
$ python3 -m timeit "x = []"
20000000 loops, best of 5: 15.8 nsec per loop
```

Similar reasoning and performance results hold for replacing `dict()` with `{}`.