Tuples
Chapter 10
Python for Informatics: Exploring Information
www.pythonlearn.com
Tuples are like lists
Tuples are another kind of sequence that functions much like a
list - they have elements which are indexed starting at 0
>>> x = ('Glenn', 'Sally', 'Joseph')
>>> print x[2]
Joseph
>>> y = ( 1, 9, 2 )
>>> print y
(1, 9, 2)
>>> print max(y)
9
>>> for iter in y:
...
print iter
...
1
9
2
>>>
but... Tuples are immutable
Unlike a list, once you create a tuple, you cannot alter its
contents - similar to a string
>>> x = [9, 8, 7]
>>> x[2] = 6
>>> print x
>>>[9, 8, 6]
>>>
>>> y = 'ABC'
>>> y[2] = 'D'
Traceback:'str'
object does
not support item
Assignment
>>>
>>> z = (5, 4, 3)
>>> z[2] = 0
Traceback:'tuple'
object does
not support item
Assignment
>>>
Things not to do with tuples
>>> x = (3, 2, 1)
>>> x.sort()
Traceback:
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'sort'
>>> x.append(5)
Traceback:
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'append'
>>> x.reverse()
Traceback:
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'reverse'
>>>
A Tale of Two Sequences
>>> l = list()
>>> dir(l)
['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop',
'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']
>>> t = tuple()
>>> dir(t)
['count', 'index']
Tuples are more efficient
Since Python does not have to build tuple structures to be
modifiable, they are simpler and more efficient in terms of
memory use and performance than lists
So in our program when we are making temporary variables
we prefer tuples over lists
Tuples and Assignment
We can also put a tuple on the left-hand side of an
assignment statement
We can even omit the parentheses
>>> (x, y) = (4, 'fred')
>>> print y
fred
>>> (a, b) = (99, 98)
>>> print a
99
Tuples and Dictionaries
The items() method in
dictionaries returns a
list of (key, value)
tuples
>>> d = dict()
>>> d['csev'] = 2
>>> d['cwen'] = 4
>>> for (k,v) in d.items():
...
print k, v
...
csev 2
cwen 4
>>> tups = d.items()
>>> print tups
[('csev', 2), ('cwen', 4)]
Tuples are Comparable
The comparison operators work with tuples and other
sequences. If the first item is equal, Python goes on to the
next element, and so on, until it finds elements that differ.
>>> (0, 1, 2) < (5, 1, 2)
True
>>> (0, 1, 2000000) < (0, 3, 4)
True
>>> ( 'Jones', 'Sally' ) < ('Jones', 'Sam')
True
>>> ( 'Jones', 'Sally') > ('Adams', 'Sam')
True
Sorting Lists of Tuples
We can take advantage of the ability to sort a list of tuples to
get a sorted version of a dictionary
First we sort the dictionary by the key using the items()
method
>>> d = {'a':10, 'b':1, 'c':22}
>>> t = d.items()
>>> t
[('a', 10), ('c', 22), ('b', 1)]
>>> t.sort()
>>> t
[('a', 10), ('b', 1), ('c', 22)]
Using
sorted()
We can do this even
more directly using the
built-in function sorted
that takes a sequence as a
parameter and returns a
sorted sequence
>>> d = {'a':10, 'b':1, 'c':22}
>>> d.items()
[('a', 10), ('c', 22), ('b', 1)]
>>> t = sorted(d.items())
>>> t
[('a', 10), ('b', 1), ('c', 22)]
>>> for k, v in sorted(d.items()):
...
print k, v
...
a 10
b 1
c 22
Sort by values instead of key
If we could construct
a list of tuples of the
form (value, key) we
could sort by value
We do this with a for
loop that creates a list
of tuples
>>> c = {'a':10, 'b':1, 'c':22}
>>> tmp = list()
>>> for k, v in c.items() :
...
tmp.append( (v, k) )
...
>>> print tmp
[(10, 'a'), (22, 'c'), (1, 'b')]
>>> tmp.sort(reverse=True)
>>> print tmp
[(22, 'c'), (10, 'a'), (1, 'b')]
fhand = open('romeo.txt')
counts = dict()
for line in fhand:
words = line.split()
for word in words:
counts[word] = counts.get(word, 0 ) + 1
lst = list()
for key, val in counts.items():
lst.append( (val, key) )
lst.sort(reverse=True)
for val, key in lst[:10] :
print key, val
The top 10 most
common words
Even Shorter Version
>>> c = {'a':10, 'b':1, 'c':22}
>>> print sorted( [ (v,k) for k,v in c.items() ] )
[(1, 'b'), (10, 'a'), (22, 'c')]
List comprehension creates a dynamic list. In this case, we
make a list of reversed tuples and then sort it.
http://wiki.python.org/moin/HowTo/Sorting
Summary
Tuple syntax
Immutability
Comparability
Sorting
Tuples in assignment
statements
Sorting dictionaries by
either key or value
Acknowledgements / Contributions
These slides are Copyright 2010- Charles R. Severance (www.
dr-chuck.com) of the University of Michigan School of Information
and open.umich.edu and made available under a Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Please maintain this last slide
in all copies of the document to comply with the attribution
requirements of the license. If you make a change, feel free to
add your name and organization to the list of contributors on this
page as you republish the materials.
Initial Development: Charles Severance, University of Michigan
School of Information
Insert new Contributors and Translators here
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