You could also try: >>> li = map(lambda x: id(x), l) >>> li [8690552, 8690600, 8690536] >>> for i in l: print li.index(id(i)) 0 1 2 >>> aesthetics I-don't-know-where-the-first-copy-of-this-went-ly y'rs Emile van Sebille emile@fenx.com -------------------