Python - Operations on Data Structures (Indexing, Slicing, Appending, Removing)

Operations on Data Structures (Indexing, Slicing, Appending, Removing) using Python

Python provides several built-in data structures such as lists, tuples, sets, and dictionaries. Each data structure has its own set of operations. Since tuples are immutable and cannot have items added or removed, and since dictionaries use keys rather than indices. Here, is an overview of the most common data structures and operations.

List

Lists are the ordered collection of items, that can store any data type. It is quite flexible, allowing you to manage and alter its contents using a variety of functions.

Operations:

1. Indexing: Accessing the specific element in the list.
2. Slicing: Extracting a subset of elements in the list.
3. Append: Appending or adding an element at the end of the list.
4. Insert: Insert an element at the specified position in the list.
5. Removed: Remove the first occurrence of an element in the list.
6. Sort: Sort the element in the ascending or descending order in the list.
7. Reverse: Reverse the order of the elements in the list.

Example

Let’s discuss the above operations of the list in the following example:

# Create a list
my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

# Indexing
print(my_list[0]) # Output: 1

# Slicing
print(my_list[1:3]) # Output: [2, 3]

# Append
my_list.append(6)
print(my_list) # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

# Insert
my_list.insert(2, 10)
print(my_list) # Output: [1, 2, 10, 3, 4, 5, 6]

# Remove
my_list.remove(10)
print(my_list) # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

# Sort
my_list.sort()
print(my_list) # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

# Reverse
my_list.reverse()
print(my_list) # Output: [6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1]

Tuples

Tuples are ordered collections of items that can be of any data type. You cannot add or delete elements from tuples since they are immutable. Still, indexing and slicing function much like lists do.

Operations:

1. Indexing: Accessing a specific element in the tuple using its index.
2. Slicing: Extracting a subset of elements from the tuple.
3. Concatenation: Combining two or more tuples into a single tuple.

Example

Let’s discuss the above operations of the tuples in the following example:

# Create a tuple
my_tuple = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

# Indexing
print(my_tuple[0]) # Output: 1

# Slicing
print(my_tuple[1:3]) # Output: (2, 3)

# Concatenation
my_tuple2 = (6, 7, 8)
print(my_tuple + my_tuple2) # Output: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Dictionaries

Dictionaries are the unordered set of collections of key-value pairs. It enables you to retrieve values using keys and offers functionalities to add, modify, or remove key-value pairs.

Operations:

1. Key Access: Accessing a value using its corresponding key.
2. Key Addition: Adding a new key-value pair to the dictionary.
3. Key Removal: Removing a key-value pair from the dictionary.
4. Key Update: Updating the value associated with a key.

Example

Let’s discuss the above operations of the dictionaries in the following example:

# Create a dictionary
my_dict = {"name": "Akanksha", "age": 22}

# Key Access
print(my_dict["name"]) # Output: Akanksha

# Key Addition
my_dict["city"] = "Jharkhand"
print(my_dict) # Output: {"name": "Akanksha", "age": 30, "city": "Jharkhand"}

# Key Removal
del my_dict["age"]
print(my_dict) # Output: {"name": "Akanksha", "city": "Jharkhand"}

# Key Update
my_dict["name"] = "Jane"
print(my_dict) # Output: {"name": "Akanksha", "city": "Jharkhand"}

Sets

In Python, a set is an unordered collection of distinct elements. It is a mutable collection of items. When the sets are created the duplicate items will automatically delete.

Operations:

1. Addition: Adds the element in the set.
2. Removal: Remove an element from the set.
3. Union: Combine two or more sets into a single set.
4. Intersection: Find the common elements between two or more sets.
5. Difference: Find elements that are in one set but not in another.

Example

Let’s discuss the above operations of the sets in the following example:

# Create a set
set1 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

# Create other sets
set2 = {4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

# Add an element to set
set1.add(6)
print(set1) # Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

# Remove an element from set
set1.remove(3)
print(set1) # Output: {1, 2, 4, 5}

# Alternatively, you can use the discard() method
set1.discard(4)
print(set1) # Output: {1, 2, 5}

# Union of sets
union_set = set1.union(set2)
print(union_set) # Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

# Alternatively, you can use the | operator
union_set = set1 | set2
print(union_set) # Output: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}

# Intersection of sets
intersection_set = set1.intersection(set2)
print(intersection_set) # Output: {5, 6}

# Alternatively, you can use the & operator
intersection_set = set1 & set2
print(intersection_set) # Output: {5, 6}

# Difference of sets
difference_set = set1.difference(set2)
print(difference_set) # Output: {1, 2}