Getting a default value on index out of range in Python [duplicate]

Answer 1

try:
    b = a[4]
except IndexError:
    b = 'sss'

A cleaner way (only works if you're using a dict):

b = a.get(4,"sss") # exact same thing as above

Here's another way you might like (again, only for dicts):

b = a.setdefault(4,"sss") # if a[4] exists, returns that, otherwise sets a[4] to "sss" and returns "sss"