Python Containers: Python Container Types

Python containers are similar to objects which are used to hold one object into the other. Python provides us with some built in containers along with the basic data types. Some of the containers are list, dictionaries, tuples, and more.

As per the name goes, Containers means In this article, let us get familiar with all important types of Python containers and their uses.

Table of Contents

What are Python Containers?

Python Containers are objects which contain another object, and variables, such as lists, sets, dictionaries, tuples, and more. Strings contain characters which contain variable strings.

Data containers contain an object container if the class consists of _contains_() special method which is used to define what containing an object inside a class means. When an object is a container then it can contain other objects inside. We generally use the “in” keyword to check whether an object contains another object inside the container. Let us understand it using an example.

# Check in a string

print(“a” in “banana”)

# Check in a list

print(7 in [1, 2, 3, 7, 8])

# Check in a dictionary (checks keys, not values)

print(“name” in {“name”: “John”, “age”: 30})

Output

Check the simple string we are using the “in” keyword to check whether or not the character “a” is in the string i,e. “Banana”. Similarly we are looking for objects in other containers.

What Are Python Containers?

Python Containers are a special type of object that can hold and organize multiple objects inside it. It is a box which can be used to store many things inside, such as objects, variables, and values.

Python containers are storage devices which can be used to store different types of variables, objects, and more.
List, tuple, set, dictionary are some of the major types of Python containers.
Python can store multiple values in a single variable.
They can easily be nested and put a data type inside another data type.
Some Python containers are mutable which can easily be modified and some are immutable which cannot be changed once created.

What Is _ _contains_ _ In Python Containers?

Python Containers are listed in class which have a __contains__ method inside. All built in sequence types are list, strings, byte arrays, unicode strings, tuples, dictionaries, etc. Containers which do not have _ _ contains _ _ method defined with xrange objects.

Some of the built in types of Python containers are not containers such as

int objects
Float objects
Long objects
Module objects
File objects
Buffer object
None objects

You can check for these built in data types in Python using the method isinstance (object, collections.Container) and add them into list.

Why Do We Need Python Containers?

Python containers are very useful when we need to organise, manage and process multiple data items efficiently at a time. We can easily store multiple values instead of creating a separate variable for each value, we can store many values inside a single container using the Python container method.

Let us know some of the main reasons for using Python containers in our program.

Python containers can store multiple variables and data types inside a single value storage or container.
With python containers you can easily add, remove, search, and update multiple items.
You can easily iterate over containers to process many items one by one.
Some containers are ordered while others in the list are unordered where you can pick anyone which suits you the best.

How to Work With Python Containers?

You can easily work with holding multiple items inside one single object and customise it according to your needs, where you can easily add, access, change or remove those items easily which you want or not want in your list.

First start with creating a simple Python container i,e. List, tuples, set, or dictionary.
You can add items in your container easily.
Now access items using an index value inside the Python container object.
You can modify the values inside your Python container whenever you want.
Python containers also allow you to remove or delete a specific element if needed.

Let us take a simple example to understand the working of Python containers below.

fruits = [“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”]

fruits.append(“orange”)

print(fruits)

print(fruits[1])

fruits[2] = “grape”

print(fruits)

# Output: [‘apple’, ‘banana’, ‘grape’, ‘orange’]

fruits.remove(“banana”)

print(fruits)

Output

As you know, Python containers are immutable as well as mutable. Lists and dictionaries are mutable in Python whereas the tuples in a Python container are immutable and hence we can update its value and existence.

Let us Know More About Types of Python Containers

Python containers are of different types containing mutable as well as immutable storage types.

Lists: These data types are used to store a sequence of items of different types in a single variable. It is a mutable data type container.
Tuples: Tuples are an immutable sequence of items present in an ordered way and are similar to lists but cannot be changed further after creation.
Dictionaries: These are key value pairs unordered collections where we can store and retrieve data based on unique keys indexing. It is also a mutable data type in Python.
Sets: Sets are ordered sets of unique elements stored inside which are used for storing union and intersection.
Strings: Strings are collections of characters in a sequential order which can be used to hold multiple characters.

These types of containers are used to provide different ways to structure and manipulate data in Python. It makes them essential tool for various programming tasks in Python.

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Python Containers FAQs

Q1. What are Python Containers?

Ans: Python Containers are objects which contain another object, and variables, such as lists, sets, dictionaries, tuples, and more. Strings contain characters which contain variable strings.

Q2. Are Python containers immutable?

Ans: Yes, Python containers can be immutable or mutable both depending upon the type of containers used such as list, dictionaries are mutable while tuples are immutable in Python.

Q3. What are the uses of Python Containers?

Ans: Python Containers are a special type of object that can hold and organize multiple objects inside it. It is a box which can be used to store many things inside, such as objects, variables, and values.