>>> a [['0068', '20160823', '571', '698038', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], ['0068', '20160823', '571', '698039', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], ['0068', '20160823', '571', '698040', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], ['0068', '20160823', '571', '698041', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], ['0068', '20160823', '571', '698042', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], ['0068', '20160823', '571', '698043', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]] >>> len(a) 6>>> zip(*a) [('0068', '0068', '0068', '0068', '0068', '0068'), ('20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823'), ('571', '571', '571', '571', '571', '571'), ('698038', '698039', '698040', '698041', '698042', '698043'), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)] >>> set(zip(*a)) set([(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0), ('0068', '0068', '0068', '0068', '0068', '0068'), ('20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823', '20160823'), ('571', '571', '571', '571', '571', '571'), ('698038', '698039', '698040', '698041', '698042', '698043')]) >>> m=map(set,zip(*a)) >>> m [set(['0068']), set(['20160823']), set(['571']), set(['698038', '698039', '698043', '698042', '698041', '698040']), set([0]), set([0]), set([0]), set([0]), set([0]), set([0]), set([0])] >>> map(list,m) [['0068'], ['20160823'], ['571'], ['698038', '698039', '698043', '698042', '698041', '698040'], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0]] >>> len(map(list,m)) 11 >>> ii= map(list,m) >>> ii [['0068'], ['20160823'], ['571'], ['698038', '698039', '698043', '698042', '698041', '698040'], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0], [0]] >>> ii.count([0]) 7 >>>