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Introduction to Python Tuples

Python Tuples​

A tuple is an ordered collection of elements enclosed in parentheses ().

Tuples are similar to lists, but unlike lists, they are immutable, meaning that their elements cannot be modified once defined.

Tuples can contain elements of different data types, such as numbers, strings, or even other tuples.

Here's an example of a tuple in Python:

fruits = ("apple", "banana", "orange")

Accessing Tuple Elements​

You can access individual elements of a tuple by using their index, just like with lists. Indexing starts from 0 for the first element.

As an example:

fruits = ("apple", "banana", "orange")

print(fruits[0])  # Output: "apple"
print(fruits[2])  # Output: "orange"

Tuple Packing and Unpacking​

You can pack multiple values into a tuple by separating them with commas. You can also unpack a tuple into individual variables.

As an example:

coordinates = (3, 4)

x, y = coordinates  # Unpacking the tuple

print(x)  # Output: 3
print(y)  # Output: 4

Immutable Nature​

Tuples are immutable, which means you cannot modify their elements. Once a tuple is defined, you cannot add, remove, or modify elements. However, you can create a new tuple by concatenating or slicing existing tuples.

Tuple Methods​

Tuples have a few built-in methods that you can use:

  • count(): Returns the number of occurrences of a specific value in the tuple.
  • index(): Returns the index of the first occurrence of a specific value in the tuple.
fruits = ("apple", "banana", "orange", "banana")

print(fruits.count("banana"))  # Output: 2
print(fruits.index("orange"))  # Output: 2

Tuple Operations​

Tuples support various operations such as concatenation, repetition, and membership testing, similar to lists.

tuple1 = (1, 2, 3)
tuple2 = (4, 5, 6)

concatenated_tuple = tuple1 + tuple2
print(concatenated_tuple)  # Output: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

repeated_tuple = tuple1 * 3
print(repeated_tuple)  # Output: (1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3)

print(2 in tuple1)  # Output: True
print(7 not in tuple2)  # Output: True

Tuple with Single Element​

If you want to create a tuple with a single element, you need to include a trailing comma after the element. This is because parentheses alone are not enough to create a tuple with one element, as they are interpreted as grouping parentheses.

single_element_tuple = (42,)
print(single_element_tuple)  # Output: (42,)