[Python] In Python, how do I iterate operation over several lists and return an updated list...

I'm trying to iterate the same series of string-cleaning operations over several long lists. The functions in the loop do what I want and print the result I expect. But then when I access the lists outside of the loop, they're still the unmodified original. How can I ensure that the loop returns the updated list?

I need to maintain them as separate lists for future operations. But I don't necessarily need to maintain the original list names (e.g., l1_clean would be fine).

import re

# Example lists
l1 = ['abc', 'def', 'ghix', 'ghi']
l2 = ['defx', 'def', 'ghi', 'jkl']

# Example cleaning operation loop
for listx in [l1, l2]:
listx = [re.sub('x', '', i) for i in listx]
listx = sorted(listx)
listx = [set(listx)]
print(listx)

listx = listx # I know this isn't right, but I'm not sure what it should be instead


This prints the new lists that I expect:

>[{'abc', 'def', 'ghi'}]
>[{'def', 'jkl', 'ghi'}]


But then when I attempt to print the cleaned lists, I'm still getting the original:

print(l1, l2)
>['abc', 'def', 'ghix', 'ghi'] ['defx', 'def', 'ghi', 'jkl']

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