def most_common(lst):
    if max([lst.count(i)for i in lst]) == 1:
        return False
    else:
        return max(set(lst), key=lst.count)

如果排序和哈希都不可行，这是一个明显的缓慢的解决方案(O(n²))，但相等比较(==)可用:

def most_common(items):
  if not items:
    raise ValueError
  fitems = [] 
  best_idx = 0
  for item in items:   
    item_missing = True
    i = 0
    for fitem in fitems:  
      if fitem[0] == item:
        fitem[1] += 1
        d = fitem[1] - fitems[best_idx][1]
        if d > 0 or (d == 0 and fitems[best_idx][2] > fitem[2]):
          best_idx = i
        item_missing = False
        break
      i += 1
    if item_missing:
      fitems.append([item, 1, i])
  return items[best_idx]

但是，如果你的列表(n)的长度很大，那么让你的项目可哈希或可排序(正如其他答案所建议的那样)几乎总是能更快地找到最常见的元素。哈希时平均为O(n)，排序时最差为O(n*log(n))。

我在最近的一个项目中需要这样做。我承认，我无法理解Alex的回答，所以这就是我最后得到的答案。

def mostPopular(l):
    mpEl=None
    mpIndex=0
    mpCount=0
    curEl=None
    curCount=0
    for i, el in sorted(enumerate(l), key=lambda x: (x[1], x[0]), reverse=True):
        curCount=curCount+1 if el==curEl else 1
        curEl=el
        if curCount>mpCount \
        or (curCount==mpCount and i<mpIndex):
            mpEl=curEl
            mpIndex=i
            mpCount=curCount
    return mpEl, mpCount, mpIndex

我根据Alex的解决方案计时，对于短列表，它要快10-15%，但一旦超过100个或更多元素(测试多达20万个)，它就会慢20%。

# use Decorate, Sort, Undecorate to solve the problem

def most_common(iterable):
    # Make a list with tuples: (item, index)
    # The index will be used later to break ties for most common item.
    lst = [(x, i) for i, x in enumerate(iterable)]
    lst.sort()

    # lst_final will also be a list of tuples: (count, index, item)
    # Sorting on this list will find us the most common item, and the index
    # will break ties so the one listed first wins.  Count is negative so
    # largest count will have lowest value and sort first.
    lst_final = []

    # Get an iterator for our new list...
    itr = iter(lst)

    # ...and pop the first tuple off.  Setup current state vars for loop.
    count = 1
    tup = next(itr)
    x_cur, i_cur = tup

    # Loop over sorted list of tuples, counting occurrences of item.
    for tup in itr:
        # Same item again?
        if x_cur == tup[0]:
            # Yes, same item; increment count
            count += 1
        else:
            # No, new item, so write previous current item to lst_final...
            t = (-count, i_cur, x_cur)
            lst_final.append(t)
            # ...and reset current state vars for loop.
            x_cur, i_cur = tup
            count = 1

    # Write final item after loop ends
    t = (-count, i_cur, x_cur)
    lst_final.append(t)

    lst_final.sort()
    answer = lst_final[0][2]

    return answer

print most_common(['x', 'e', 'a', 'e', 'a', 'e', 'e']) # prints 'e'
print most_common(['goose', 'duck', 'duck', 'goose']) # prints 'goose'

def mostCommonElement(list):
  count = {} // dict holder
  max = 0 // keep track of the count by key
  result = None // holder when count is greater than max
  for i in list:
    if i not in count:
      count[i] = 1
    else:
      count[i] += 1
    if count[i] > max:
      max = count[i]
      result = i
  return result

主要组合(“a”、“b”、“a”、“c”)->“a”

你可能不再需要这个了，但这是我对一个类似问题所做的。(因为评论，它看起来比实际要长。)

itemList = ['hi', 'hi', 'hello', 'bye']

counter = {}
maxItemCount = 0
for item in itemList:
    try:
        # Referencing this will cause a KeyError exception
        # if it doesn't already exist
        counter[item]
        # ... meaning if we get this far it didn't happen so
        # we'll increment
        counter[item] += 1
    except KeyError:
        # If we got a KeyError we need to create the
        # dictionary key
        counter[item] = 1

    # Keep overwriting maxItemCount with the latest number,
    # if it's higher than the existing itemCount
    if counter[item] > maxItemCount:
        maxItemCount = counter[item]
        mostPopularItem = item

print mostPopularItem