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Introduction
Real world Python

Python Data Structures

Discover the primary data structures in Python, including strings, lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets.

By Kevin McAleer,    3 Minutes

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Introduction

Data structures in Python are containers that organize and group data types together in different ways. This lesson will cover the primary data structures: strings, lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand and use Python’s primary data structures: strings, lists, tuples, dictionaries, and sets.

Strings

Strings are sequences of characters, and they are created by enclosing characters in quotes. Python treats single quotes the same as double quotes1.

# A string in Python
greeting = "Hello, World!"

# Accessing characters in a string
first_char = greeting[0]
print(first_char)  # Prints 'H'

# Strings are immutable
# The following line will raise an error
# greeting[0] = 'h'

Lists

Lists are ordered and mutable collections, which means you can replace, add or remove elements. Lists can contain items of different data types.

# Creating a list
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# Accessing list items
first_number = numbers[0]
print(first_number)  # Prints '1'

# Modifying a list
numbers[0] = 10
print(numbers)  # Prints '[10, 2, 3, 4, 5]'

Tuples

Tuples are similar to lists but they are immutable, which means you can’t change elements of a tuple once it’s defined.

# Creating a tuple
coordinates = (10.0, 20.0)

# Accessing tuple items
x_coordinate = coordinates[0]
print(x_coordinate)  # Prints '10.0'

# Tuples are immutable
# The following line will raise an error
# coordinates[0] = 20.0

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are unordered collections of key-value pairs. They are mutable and indexed by keys.

# Creating a dictionary
student = {'name': 'John', 'age': 15, 'grade': 'A'}

# Accessing dictionary values
name = student['name']
print(name)  # Prints 'John'

# Modifying a dictionary
student['age'] = 16
print(student)  # Prints "{'name': 'John', 'age': 16, 'grade': 'A'}"

Sets

Sets are unordered collections of unique elements. They are mutable, but they cannot contain mutable elements.

# Creating a set
fruits = {'apple', 'banana', 'cherry'}

# Checking if an element is in the set
print('apple' in fruits)  # Prints 'True'

# Adding an element to the set
fruits.add('orange')
print(fruits)  # May print "{'cherry', 'orange', 'banana', 'apple'}"

# Removing an element from the set
fruits.remove('apple')
print(fruits)  # May print "{'cherry', 'orange', 'banana'}"

Summary

You’ve learned about Python’s main data structures and how to work with them. These structures are fundamental to organizing and storing data in your Python programs.

  1. It’s best practice to use double quotes, as these anticipate punctuation used in strings such as appostrophies. It’s also part of the Black Python coding best practice ↩

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