Programming Fundamentals › Collections
Tuple
A fixed-size, ordered group of values, often of different types.
Also known as: tuples, immutable list
A tuple is a fixed-size, ordered group of values, often of different types. In Python it’s immutable: once created, it can’t change.
point = (3, 4)
person = ("Ana", 30, "Jakarta")
point[0] # 3
x, y = point # unpacking
point[0] = 5 # TypeError: tuples can't be modified
def min_max(items):
return min(items), max(items) # a function returning two values
low, high = min_max([3, 1, 4])Tuple or list?
| Tuple | List | |
|---|---|---|
| Can change | no | yes |
| Typical contents | a few values with different meanings (a record) | many values of the same kind |
| Can be a dictionary key | yes (if its contents are hashable) | no |
A tuple says “this group belongs together and is fixed” (coordinates, a row from a database, a key made of two parts). A list says “a sequence that may grow”.
cache = {}
cache[("ana", 2026)] = 42 # a tuple as a compound keyDetails
- One-item tuples need a comma:
(5,).(5)is just the number 5. - Immutable, but not deeply. A tuple holding a list can still have that list changed.
- Other languages: JavaScript has no tuple, so people use arrays. TypeScript has tuple types (
[string, number]), and Rust, Swift and C# have real tuples. - When you want named fields, a
namedtuple, dataclass or object is clearer thanperson[2]. - Unpack them (destructuring) rather than indexing.