List slices PRO exercise problem

Question

Why is the output 2 and not 42? Can someone please explain this to me?

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x = input()
elements = x.split()

print(x[:-2:-1])
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input: [42]
output: 2

Answer 1

some tutorial
https://code.sololearn.com/cAQBZ3dHmbKW/?ref=app

Answer 2

in indexing Im sure you know you have your [start:stop:step]

if x is a list of two items, then print(x[:-2:-1]) means:
print a list of all the values in the list reversed (-1), up to but not including the second to last value in the original list (-2).

Answer 3

Thank you! :D