5/7/2025

Python Programming - Sets

Internal use only

The sets
• A set is an unordered collection (meaning that the order of elements is not preserved) with no
duplicate items

• Sets are primarily used for membership testing and eliminating duplicate entries

• The curly braces { } or the set() function can be used to create sets with a comma-separated list of
items inside curly brackets { }

• To create an empty set, you have to use set() and not { } as the latter creates an empty dictionary

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The sets
• Sets support mathematical operations, such as union, intersection, difference and symmetric
difference

Set methods
Method Syntax Description

add() set_name.add(item) Adds a single item to the set set_name.

clear() set_name.clear() Removes all the items from the set set_name.

Returns a new set with items in the set set_name and that are not in the
difference() set_name.difference(*others)
others sets.

discard() set_name.discard(item) Removes an item from the set set_name if it is present.

Returns a new set with items common to the set set_name and all others
intersection() set_name. intersection(*others)
sets.
Returns True if the set set_name has no items in common with the other
isdisjoint() set_name.isdisjoint(other)
set. Sets are disjoint if and only if their intersection is an empty set.

issubset() set_name.issubset(other) Returns True if every item in the set set_name is in the other set.

issuperset() set_name.issuperset() Returns True if every item in the other set is in the set_name.

Removes and returns an arbitrary item from the set set_name. It raises
pop() set_name.pop()
KeyError if the set set_name is empty.
Removes and returns an item from the set set_name. It raises KeyError if
remove() set_name.remove(item)
the item is not contained in the set set_name.
symmetric_diff set_name.symmetric_difference( Returns a new set with items either in the set_name or in other but not
erence() other) both.

union() set_name.union(*others) Returns a new set with items from the set set_name and all others sets.

update() set_name.update(*others) Updates the set set_name by adding items from all others sets.
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Traversing of sets
• The for loop can be used to iterate through each item in a set

Frozenset
• A frozenset is basically the same as a set, except that it is immutable

• Once a frozenset is created, then its items cannot be changed

• Since the frozenset is immutable, they can be used as members in other sets and as dictionary
keys

• The frozensets have the same functions as normal sets, except none of the functions that change
the contents (update, remove, pop, etc.) are available

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Sets vs lists - key differences

• Sets: unordered and unique elements - no duplicates allowed

• Lists: ordered and can contain duplicate elements

Mutability

• Sets: mutable, but only immutable objects can be stored in it (you can add or remove elements, but
you cannot change the elements themselves)

• Lists: mutable, and elements can be changed, added, or removed

Access and performance

• Sets: does not support indexing or slicing - elements cannot be accessed using subscript notation -
sets are optimized for membership tests using the in operator, making them faster for checking if an
element exists

• Lists: supports indexing and slicing - elements can be accessed using subscript notation - lists
allow random access to elements

Sets vs lists - key differences

• Sets: created using curly braces {} or the set() constructor - cannot create an empty set using {};
use set() instead

• Lists: created using square brackets [] or the list() constructor - allows nested lists

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Examples

1) Choosing between a set and a list depends on the specific