convert list of dicts to list

Question

I have a list of fields in this form

fields = [{\'name\':\'count\', \'label\':\'Count\'},{\'name\':\'type\', \'label\':\'Type\'}]

I\'d like

Answer 1

names = [x['name'] for x in fields] would do.

and if the list names already exists then:

names += [x['name'] for x in fields]