List in Python is mainly implementation of dynamic sized arrays (like ArrayList in Java or vector in C++). Capacity of a list means number of elements a list can store at a specific time. When we append an element to a list, it will store the element if there is size is less than capacity. If current capacity exceeds, then lists resize and allocate extra space for future insertions (Please see how lists work in Python for details) The formula for finding the capacity of a list and space left in the list: 
Here, size of an empty list means how many bits are allocated to an empty list and it varies system to system . size of one block of the list also varies from system to system. Length of the list means the number of blocks of space which is filled
Example 1:
Python3
# program to find capacity of the listimport sysl = []size = sys.getsizeof(l)print("size of an empty list :", size)# append an element in the listl.append(1)# calculate total size of the list after appending one elementprint("Now total size of a list :", sys.getsizeof(l))# calculate capacity of the list after appending one element# Considering block size as 8.capacity = (sys.getsizeof(l)-size)//8print("capacity of the list is:", capacity)print("length of the list is :", len(l))# calculate space left the list after appending one elementspaceleft = ((sys.getsizeof(l)-size)-len(l)*8)//8print("space left in the list is:", spaceleft) |
OUTPUT
size of an empty list : 64 Now total size of a list : 96 capacity of the list is: 4 length of the list is: 1 space left in the list is: 3
Time complexity: O(1)
Auxiliary space: O(1)
Example 2:
Python3
# program to find capacity of the listimport sysl = []size = sys.getsizeof(l)print("size of an empty list :", size)# append four element in the listl.append(1)l.append(2)l.append(3)l.append(4)# calculate total size of the list after appending four elementprint("Now total size of a list :", sys.getsizeof(l))# calculate capacity of the list after appending four elementc = (sys.getsizeof(l)-size)//8print("capacity of the list is:", c)print("length of the list is:", len(l))# calculate space left the list after appending four elementspaceleft =((sys.getsizeof(l)-size)-len(l)*8)//8print("space left in the list is:", spaceleft) |
OUTPUT
size of an empty list : 64 Now total size of a list : 96 capacity of the list is: 4 length of the list is: 4 space left in the list is: 0
The time complexity of this program is constant or O(1), meaning that the amount of time required to run the program remains the same, regardless of the size of the input.
The program uses a constant amount of auxiliary space to store the list and the size variable. Therefore, the auxiliary space complexity of this program is O(1), which is constant.
Example 3:
Python3
# program to find capacity of the listimport sysl = []size = sys.getsizeof(l)print("size of an empty list :", size)# append five element in the listl.append(1)l.append(2)l.append(3)l.append(4)l.append(5)# calculate total size of the list after appending five elementprint("Now total size of a list :", sys.getsizeof(l))# calculate capacity of the list after appending five elementc = (sys.getsizeof(l)-size)//8print("capacity of the list is:", c)print("length of the list is:", len(l))# calculate space left the list after appending five elementspaceleft =((sys.getsizeof(l)-size)-len(l)*8)//8print("space left in the list is:", spaceleft) |
OUTPUT
size of an empty list : 64 Now total size of a list : 128 capacity of the list is: 8 length of the list is: 5 space left in the list is: 3
