Tuple

Python tuples are values—they never change. Suppose an element has a shape and a color. This forms a tuple pair. Logically this information is a single unit.

With tuples, we have a simple way to group elements together in Python programs. We can build up lists of tuples, or use them in dictionaries.

First example

A tuple is immutable—this is important to consider. It cannot be changed after created, so the creation syntax must be used often.

# Create 3-element tuple.
items = ("bird", 100, False)

print("TUPLE:", items)
print("LEN:", len(items))
print("FIRST:", items[0])
TUPLE: ('bird', 100, False)
LEN: 3
FIRST: bird

Immutable

An immutable object cannot be changed. Once created it always has the same values. A tuple is immutable. Here we attempt to assign the first element in the tuple.

tuple = ('cat', 'dog', 'mouse')

# This causes an error.
tuple[0] = 'feline'
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment

Pack, unpack

Tuples can be packed and unpacked. In packing, we place values into a new tuple. And in unpacking we extract those values back into variables.

# Create packed tuple.
pair = ("dog", "cat")

# Unpack tuple.
(key, value) = pair

# Display unpacked variables.
print(key)
print(value)
dog
cat

No parentheses

Tuples are typically specified with surrounding parentheses chars. But suppose you are a wild one. You can just use a comma. The tuple is inferred.

# A trailing comma indicates a tuple.
one_item = "cat",

# A tuple can be specified with no parentheses.
two_items = "cat", "dog"

print(one_item)
print(two_items)
('cat',)
('cat', 'dog')

Add, multiply

A tuple is not a number. But it can be added to or multiplied. By adding two tuples, they are concatenated. One is put after the other.

checks = (10, 20, 30)

# Add two tuples.
more = checks + checks
print(more)

# Multiply tuple.
total = checks * 3
print(total)
(10, 20, 30, 10, 20, 30)
(10, 20, 30, 10, 20, 30, 10, 20, 30)

Max, min

The max and min functions can be used on tuples. These functions locate the item that would be sorted last (max) or sorted first (min).

# Max and min for strings.
friends = ("sandy", "michael", "aaron", "stacy")

print(max(friends))
print(min(friends))

# Max and min for numbers.
earnings = (1000, 2000, 500, 4000)

print(max(earnings))
print(min(earnings))
stacy
aaron
4000
500

In keyword

This example creates a two-element tuple (a pair). It searches the tuple for the string "cat". It then searches for "bird", but this string does not exist.

pair = ("dog", "cat")

# Search for a value.
if "cat" in pair:
    print("Cat found")

# Search for a value not present.
if "bird" not in pair:
    print("Bird not found")
Cat found
Bird not found

Slice

A tuple can be sliced. The slice notation uses a colon. On the left side of the colon, we have the starting index. If no starting index is present, the program uses 0.

values = (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13)

# Copy the tuple.
print(values[:])

# Copy all values at index 1 or more.
print(values[1:])

# Copy one value, starting at first.
print(values[:1])

# Copy values from index 2 to 4.
print(values[2:4])
(1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13)
(3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13)
(1,)
(5, 7)

Index

This gets the index of an element. Here we search for the value "dog," and get the index 1 (the second position). If we use index() on a value that is not found, an error results.

# Three-item tuple.
items = ("cat", "dog", "bird")

# Get index of element with value "dog".
index = items.index("dog")
print(index, items[index])
1 dog

Count

This returns the number of elements with a specific value in a tuple. If you need to get the total length of the tuple, please use len. Count only counts certain values.

values = (1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3)
print(values.count(1))
print(values.count(3))
# There are no 100 values, so this returns 0.
print(values.count(100))
1
3
0

Keys, dictionary

We next use a tuple as a dictionary key. Dictionaries can use tuple keys without worrying about them changing. Here we use the pair of values 1 and 2 to look up a value.

# A tuple with two numbers.
pair = (1, 2)

# Create a dictionary.
# ... Use the tuple as a key.
dict = {}
dict[pair] = "Python"

# Access the dictionary using a tuple.
print(dict[(1, 2)])
Python

Convert

A tuple cannot be modified. But a list can be changed in many ways. For this reason we often need to convert a tuple into a list.

# Tuple containing unsorted odd numbers.
odds = (9, 5, 11)

# Convert to list and sort.
list = list(odds)
list.sort()
print(list)

# Convert back to tuple.
sorted_odds = tuple(list)
print(sorted_odds)
[5, 9, 11]
(5, 9, 11)

Enumerate

This is a built-in method. Enumerate() returns a tuple of an index and the element value at that index. It is often used on a list.

values = ["meow", "bark", "chirp"]

# Use enumerate on list.
for pair in enumerate(values):
    # The pair is a 2-tuple.
    print(pair)

# Unpack enumerate's results in for-loop.
for index, value in enumerate(values):
    # We have already unpacked the tuple.
    print(str(index) + "..." + value)
(0, 'meow')
(1, 'bark')
(2, 'chirp')
0...meow
1...bark
2...chirp

List of tuples

Let us examine a practical example. This program divides a string into a list of tuples. Each tuple has adjacent characters from the string.

value = "abcdefgh"
pairs = []

# Loop over string.
# ... Use step of 2 in range built-in.
# ... Extract pairs of letters into a list of tuples.
for i in range(1, len(value), 2):
    one = value[i - 1]
    two = value[i]
    pairs.append((one, two))

# Display list of tuple pairs.
for pair in pairs:
    print(pair)
('a', 'b')
('c', 'd')
('e', 'f')
('g', 'h')

Swap

To flip or swap variables, we do not need a temporary variable. We can use a tuple unpacking expression. We assign each variable to the other one in a single statement.

left = "cat"
right = "dog"
print("LEFT", left)
print("RIGHT", right)

print(":::FLIP:::")
# Use tuple unpacking to flip variables.
left, right = right, left

print("LEFT", left)
print("RIGHT", right)
LEFT cat
RIGHT dog
:::FLIP:::
LEFT dog
RIGHT cat

Benchmark

How do we choose between the syntax forms for tuples? In this benchmark we test two ways of assigning variables to values in a tuple. We unpack tuples.

import time

pair = (1, 2)

print(time.time())

# Version 1: unpack tuple.
i = 0
while i < 10000000:
    (a, b) = pair
    i = i + 1

print(time.time())

# Version 2: assign variables to tuple separately.
i = 0
while i < 10000000:
    a = pair[0]
    b = pair[1]
    i = i + 1

print(time.time())
1345673733.21
1345673737.12 (Unpack: 3.91 s)
1345673742.12 (Assign: 5.00 s)

Namedtuple

In normal tuples, fields have no names. With namedtuple, a type from the collections module, we can provide names to a tuple's fields.

A summary

With tuples, we have access to many helpful methods. Tuples are key to other important types, such as dictionary. And they are used, to some advantage, within lists.