Grab unique tuples in python list, irrespective of order

Question

I have a python list:

[ (2,2),(2,3),(1,4),(2,2), etc...]

What I need is some kind of function that reduces it to its unique components... w

Answer 1

set() will remove all duplicates, and you can then put it back to a list:

unique = list(set(mylist))

Using set(), however, will kill your ordering. If the order matters, you can use a list comprehension that checks if the value already exists earlier in the list:

unique = [v for i,v in enumerate(mylist) if v not in mylist[:i]]

That solution is a little slow, however, so you can do it like this:

unique = []
for tup in mylist:
    if tup not in unique:
        unique.append(tup)