How to use Python sets
Python sets are useful for creating collections of unique elements. They support operations such as finding the difference between two sets, joining multiple sets together, and more!

Sets are data structures used for holding unique collections of elements. Meaning, you cannot have duplicate elements in a set.
Creating sets
You can created a set using Python's set()
function.
# create a unique collection of letters from 'hello'
unique_letters = set("hello")
print(unique_letters)
Output: {'o', 'h', 'e', 'l'}
Notice that the duplicate l
in hello
was not added to the set.
The order of the output looks a little funky. This is because sets are unordered collections.
The output is also wrapped with curly braces, which can also be used for creating sets.
You can create a set from an existing list by passing the list into the set()
function.
# a list with duplicate numbers
numbers = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4]
# make a set from the list
unique_numbers = set(numbers)
print(unique_numbers)
Output: {1, 2, 3, 4}
You can add or remove elements, and check the length of a set.
numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4}
numbers.add(5)
numbers.remove(5)
print(len(numbers))
Output: 4
Set operations
You can join two sets together, which will remove any duplicate elements.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
# use '|' to get the union of two sets
print(first | second)
Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
You can find the elements that exist in two sets.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
# use '&' to get elements that exist in both sets
print(first & second)
Output: {3, 4}
You can find elements that exist in one set, but not the other.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
# use '-' to get elements that exist in the first set
# but not the second set
print(first - second)
Output: {1, 2}
You could find the reverse by simply switching the sets around.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
# use '-' to get elements that exist in the second set
# but not the first set
print(second - first)
Output: {5, 6}
You can also find elements that exist in both first and second sets, but do not exist in both.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
# use '^' to find elements that exist in
# first and second set, but not in both
print(first ^ second)
Output: {1, 2, 5, 6}
You can use the above operations with multiple sets.
first = {1, 2, 3, 4}
second = {3, 4, 5, 6}
third = {5, 6, 7, 8}
forth = {7, 8, 9, 10}
# union of 4 sets
print(first | second | third | forth)
Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}
Accessing elements in sets
It is important to know that sets do not support indexes. If you try to find an element inside a set using an index, you will get an error.
numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4}
print(numbers[0])
Output:`TypeError: 'set' object is not subscriptable
💥
However, you can loop through elements using a for
loop.
numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4}
for number in numbers:
print(number)
Output: 1
, 2
, 3
, 4
You can also check for the existing of an element using the in
keyword.
numbers = {1, 2, 3, 4}
if 1 in numbers:
print(True)
else:
print(False)
Output: True
Closing thoughts
Next time you need uniqueness in your data structures, don't use a list with a bunch of loops and conditional statements, use a set instead!