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Sets

This document discusses sets in Python. It defines a set as an unordered collection of unique elements without duplicates. It describes how to create sets using direct syntax or by constructing from a list. It covers common set operations like union, intersection, difference and membership testing. It provides examples of modifying sets by adding, removing, and discarding elements. The document notes that sets can only contain immutable elements like integers, floats, strings and tuples, not mutable elements like lists or dictionaries.

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10 views12 pages

Sets

This document discusses sets in Python. It defines a set as an unordered collection of unique elements without duplicates. It describes how to create sets using direct syntax or by constructing from a list. It covers common set operations like union, intersection, difference and membership testing. It provides examples of modifying sets by adding, removing, and discarding elements. The document notes that sets can only contain immutable elements like integers, floats, strings and tuples, not mutable elements like lists or dictionaries.

Uploaded by

Sam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Sets

1
Sets
• Mathematical set: a collection of values, without
duplicates or order 2
• Order does not matter 3
{ 1, 2, 3 } == { 3, 2, 1 } 1

• No duplicates
{ 3, 1, 4, 1, 5 } == { 5, 4, 3, 1 } 4
5
• For every data structure, ask: 3
1
– How to create
– How to query (look up) and perform other operations
• (Can result in a new set, or in some other datatype)
– How to modify
2
Two ways to create a set
1. Direct mathematical syntax:
odd = {1, 3, 5}
prime = {2, 3, 5}
Note: Cannot use “{}” to express empty set: it
means something else . Use set() instead.
2. Construct from a list: (also from a tuple or string)
odd = set([1, 3, 5])
prime = set([2, 3, 5])
empty = set([]) # or set()

3
Set operations
odd = {1, 3, 5}
prime = {2, 3, 5}
• membership  Python: in 4 in prime  False
• union  Python: | odd | prime  {1, 2, 3, 5}
• intersection  Python: & odd & prime  {3, 5}
• difference \ or - Python: - odd – prime  {1}
Think in terms of set operations,
not in terms of iteration and element operations
– Shorter, clearer, less error-prone, faster

Although we can do iteration over sets:


# iterates over items in arbitrary order
for item in myset:
…
But we cannot index into a set to access a specific element. 4
Practice with sets
z = {5, 6, 7, 8}
y = {1, 2, 3, 1, 5}
k = z & y
j = z | y
m = y – z
n = z – y

5
Modifying a set
• Add one element to a set:
myset.add(newelt)
myset = myset | {newelt}

• Remove one element from a set:


myset.remove(elt) # elt must be in myset or raises error
myset.discard(elt) # never errors
myset = myset - {elt}
What would this do?
myset = myset – elt

• Remove and return an arbitrary element from a set:


myset.pop()
Note: add, remove and discard all return None 6
Practice with sets
z = {5, 6, 7, 8}
y = {1, 2, 3, 1, 5}
p = z
q = set(z) # Makes a copy of set z
z.add(9)
q = q | {35}
z.discard(7)
q = q – {6, 1, 8}

7
Aside: List vs. set operations (1)
Find the common elements in both list1 and list2:
out1 = []
for elem in list2:
if elem in list1:
out1.append(elem)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Find the common elements in both set1 and set2:
set1 & set2

Much shorter, clearer, easier to write with sets! 8


Aside: List vs. set operations(2)
Find elements in either list1 or list2 (or both) (without duplicates):
out2 = list(list1) # make a copy
for elem in list2:
if elem not in list1: # don’t append elements already in
out2
out2.append(elem)

Another way:
out2 = list1 + list2 # if an item is in BOTH lists, it will
appear TWICE!
for elem in out1: # out1 = common elements in both lists
out2.remove(elem) # Remove common elements, leaving just
a single copy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Find the elements in either set1 or set2 (or both):
9
set1 | set2
Aside: List vs. set operations(3)
Find the elements in either list but not in both:
out3 = []
out2 = list1 + list2 # if an item is in BOTH lists, it
will appear TWICE!
for elem in out2:
if elem not in list1 or elem not in list2:
out3.append(elem)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Find the elements in either set but not in both:
set1 – set2 | set2 – set1
set1 ^ set2

10
Not every value may be placed in a set

• Set elements must be immutable values


– int, float, bool, string, tuple
– not: list, set, dictionary
• The set itself is mutable (e.g. we can add
and remove elements)

• Aside: frozenset must contain immutable values and is itself immutable


(cannot add and remove elements)

11
Why not?
• Goal: only set operations change the set
– after “myset.add(x)”, x in myset  True
– y in myset always evaluates to the same value
Both conditions should hold until myset itself is changed
• Mutable elements can violate these goals
list1 = ["a", "b"]
list2 = list1
list3 = ["a", "b"]
myset = { list1 }  Hypothetical; actually illegal in Python!
list1 in myset  True
list3 in myset  True
list2.append("c")  not modifying myset “directly”
12

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