Python Tuples

A tuple is a collection which is ordered and unchangeable. In Python tuples are written with round brackets.

Tuple is immutable collection i.e values can't be changed.

Example:-

Creating a Tuple:

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(thistuple)

Access Tuple Items

You can access tuple items by referring to the index number, inside square brackets:

Example:-

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(thistuple[1])

Negative Indexing

Negative indexing means beginning from the end, -1 refers to the last item, -2 refers to the second last item etc.

Example:-

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(thistuple[-1])

Range of Indexes

You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range.

When specifying a range, the return value will be a new tuple with the specified items.

Example:-

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango")
print(thistuple[2:5])

Note: The search will start at index 2 (included) and end at index 5 (not included).

Remember that the first item has index 0.

Range of Negative Indexes

Specify negative indexes if you want to start the search from the end of the tuple:

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry", "orange", "kiwi", "melon", "mango")
print(thistuple[-4:-1])

Change Tuple Values

Once a tuple is created, you cannot change its values. Tuples are unchangeable, or immutable as it also is called.

But there is a workaround. You can convert the tuple into a list, change the list, and convert the list back into a tuple.

x = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
y = list(x)
y[1] = "kiwi"
x = tuple(y)

print(x)

Loop Through a Tuple

You can loop through the tuple items by using a for loop.

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
for x in thistuple:
  print(x)

You will learn more about for loops in our Python For Loops Chapter.

Check if Item Exists

To determine if a specified item is present in a tuple use the in keyword:

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
if "apple" in thistuple:
  print("Yes, 'apple' is in the fruits tuple")

Tuple Length

To determine how many items a tuple has, use the len() method:

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(len(thistuple))

Add Items

Once a tuple is created, you cannot add items to it. Tuples are unchangeable.

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
thistuple[3] = "orange" # This will raise an error
print(thistuple)

Create Tuple With One Item

To create a tuple with only one item, you have to add a comma after the item, otherwise Python will not recognize it as a tuple.

thistuple = ("apple",) #remember the commma
print(type(thistuple))

#NOT a tuple
thistuple = ("apple")
print(type(thistuple))

Remove Items

Note: You cannot remove items in a tuple.

Tuples are unchangeable, so you cannot remove items from it, but you can delete the tuple completely.

The del keyword can delete the tuple completely.

thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
del thistuple
print(thistuple) #this will raise an error because the tuple no longer exists

Join Two Tuples

To join two or more tuples you can use the + operator:

tuple1 = ("a", "b" , "c")
tuple2 = (1, 2, 3)

tuple3 = tuple1 + tuple2
print(tuple3)

The tuple() Constructor

It is also possible to use the tuple() constructor to make a tuple.

thistuple = tuple(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) # note the double round-brackets
print(thistuple)

Tuple Methods

Python has two built-in methods that you can use on tuples.

Example:-

a = (1,2,3,4,5,6,4)

print(a.index(5))  # return index of 5 i.e. 4

print(a.count(4)) # 2