Hello, in this tutorial, we will explain Sets in Python programming language.
1. Introduction
The Set data structure in python programming is:
- A data structure that cannot contain the duplicates elements
- A data structure which is unordered and un-indexed
- Elements are immutable but the whole Set is mutable
- There is no index attached to any element in a Set
1.1 Setting up Python
If someone needs to go through the Python installation on Windows, please watch this link. Download the python from this link.
2. Sets in Python
I am using JetBrains PyCharm as my preferred IDE. You are free to choose the IDE of their choice.
2.1 How to create Set and accessing values?
Creating a set is as simple as putting different comma-separated values in the curly brackets. To access values in the set we can either use the loop or the print(…) function directly. Let us understand this with the help of a code snippet.
Creating a Set and Accessing it
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | # Creating a car set literal# A set in python programming is a collection which is unordered and un-indexedcars = {'BMW', 'Honda', 'Audi', 'Mercedes', 'Honda', 'Toyota', 'Ferrari', 'Tesla'}# 2. Accessing the values from the set# Approach1 -print('Approach #1= ', cars)print('==========')# Approach2 -print('Approach #2')for car in cars: print('Car name = {}'.format(car))print('==========') |
If everything goes well the following output will be shown in the IDE console.
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 | Approach #1= {'BMW', 'Ferrari', 'Honda', 'Toyota', 'Audi', 'Mercedes', 'Tesla'}==========Approach #2Car name = BMWCar name = FerrariCar name = HondaCar name = ToyotaCar name = AudiCar name = MercedesCar name = Tesla |
2.2 Adding an element to Set
To add an element to a set we use the add() method in python programming. Let us understand this with the help of a code snippet.
Adding an element
1 2 3 4 | # 3. Adding an element to the set and accessing it# There is no specific index attachedcars.add('Tata')print('New cars set = {}'.format(cars)) |
If everything goes well the following output will be shown in the IDE console.
1 | New cars set = {'BMW', 'Ferrari', 'Honda', 'Toyota', 'Tata', 'Audi', 'Mercedes', 'Tesla'} |
2.3 Deleting an element from Set
To remove an element from a set we use the discard() method in python programming. Let us understand this with the help of a code snippet.
Removing an element
1 2 3 4 | # 4. Removing an element from the set# There is no specific index attachedcars.discard('Mercedes')print('discard() method = {}'.format(cars)) |
If everything goes well the following output will be shown in the IDE console.
1 | discard() method = {'BMW', 'Ferrari', 'Honda', 'Toyota', 'Tata', 'Audi', 'Tesla'} |
2.4 Some basic functions
- Union operation produces a new set containing all the distinct elements from both the sets
- Intersection operation produces a new set containing only common elements from both the sets
- Difference operation produces a new set containing only the elements from the first set and none from the second set
- Compare operation checks if a given set is a subset or superset of another set. The result is true or false depending on the elements present in the sets
Let us understand this with the help of a code snippet.
Basic functions
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 | # 5. Basic functions over setoddDays = {"Mon", "Wed", "Fri"}allDays = {"Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat"}# 5(a). Union of sets# Union operation produces a new set containing all the distinct elements from both the setsunion = oddDays | allDaysprint("Union of sets = {}".format(union))print('==========')# 5(b). Intersection of sets# Intersection operation produces a new set containing only common elements from both the setsintersection = oddDays & allDaysprint("Intersection of sets = {}".format(intersection))print('==========')# 5(c). Difference of sets# Difference operation produces a new set containing only the elements from the first set and none from the second setdifference = allDays - oddDaysprint("Difference of sets = {}".format(difference))print('==========')# 5(d). Compare sets# Compare operation checks if a given set is a subset or superset of the another set# The result is true or false depending on the elements present in the setssubset = oddDays <= allDayssuperset = allDays >= oddDaysprint("Subset result = {}".format(subset))print("Superset result = {}".format(superset)) |
If everything goes well the following output will be shown in the IDE console.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Union of sets = {'Sat', 'Fri', 'Wed', 'Mon', 'Thu', 'Tue', 'Sun'}Intersection of sets = {'Wed', 'Fri', 'Mon'}Difference of sets = {'Tue', 'Sat', 'Thu', 'Sun'}Subset result = TrueSuperset result = True |
That is all for this tutorial and I hope the article served you with whatever you were looking for. Happy Learning and do not forget to share!
3. Summary
In this tutorial, we learned about the:
- A set data structure in python programming
- Practical examples of using Set in python programming
You can download the sample class from the Downloads section.
4. Download the Project
This was an example of a Set data structure in python programming.
You can download the full source code of this example here: Sets in Python
