Empty set literal? | 易学教程

问题

[] = empty list

() = empty tuple

{} = empty dict

Is there a similar notation for an empty set? Or do I have to write set()?

回答1:

No, there's no literal syntax for the empty set. You have to write set().

回答2:

Just to extend the accepted answer:

From version 2.7 and 3.1 python has got set literal {} in form of usage {1,2,3}, but {} itself still used for empty dict.

Python 2.7 (first line is invalid in Python <2.7)

>>> {1,2,3}.__class__
<type 'set'>
>>> {}.__class__
<type 'dict'>

Python 3.x

>>> {1,4,5}.__class__
<class 'set'>
>>> {}.__class__
<type 'dict'>

More here: https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/2.7.html#other-language-changes

回答3:

By all means, please use set() to create an empty set.

But, if you want to impress people, tell them that you can create an empty set using literals and * with Python >= 3.5 (see PEP 448) by doing:

>>> s = {*()}  # or {*{}} or {*[]}
>>> print(s)
set()

this is basically a more condensed way of doing {_ for _ in ()}, but, don't do this.

回答4:

It depends on if you want the literal for a comparison, or for assignment.

If you want to make an existing set empty, you can use the .clear() metod, especially if you want to avoid creating a new object. If you want to do a comparison, use set() or check if the length is 0.

example:

#create a new set    
a=set([1,2,3,'foo','bar'])
#or, using a literal:
a={1,2,3,'foo','bar'}

#create an empty set
a=set()
#or, use the clear method
a.clear()

#comparison to a new blank set
if a==set():
    #do something

#length-checking comparison
if len(a)==0:
    #do something

回答5:

Adding to the crazy ideas: with Python 3 accepting unicode identifiers, you could declare a variable ϕ = frozenset() (ϕ is U+03D5) and use it instead.

回答6:

Yes. The same notation that works for non-empty dict/set works for empty ones.

Notice the difference between non-empty dict and set literals:

{1: 'a', 2: 'b', 3: 'c'} -- a number of key-value pairs inside makes a dict
{'aaa', 'bbb', 'ccc'} -- a tuple of values inside makes a set

So:

{} == zero number of key-value pairs == empty dict
{*()} == empty tuple of values == empty set

However the fact, that you can do it, doesn't mean you should. Unless you have some strong reasons, it's better to construct an empty set explicitly, like:

a = set()

NB: As ctrueden noticed in comments, {()} is not an empty set. It's a set with 1 element: empty tuple.

来源：https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6130374/empty-set-literal

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python

set

literals