Question

If a list is passed into a function as an argument, What happens when any of its elements are deleted inside the function using the del instruction?

1) The element is removed from the list
2) The element is replaced with None
3) The function throws an error
4) The list remains unchanged

Answer 1

If a list is passed to a function and an element is deleted inside the function using the del instruction, the element is actually removed from the original list.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a list is passed into a function as an argument, and any of its elements are deleted inside the function using the del instruction, the element is removed from the list. This is because lists in Python are mutable data structures, meaning that if you pass a list to a function, changes to the list within that function affect the original list. Therefore, if the del command is used to remove an item, it will be reflected in the original list outside the function as well.