Exploring Python Tuples: A Beginner's Guide.
Tags: webdev, python, beginners
Published: 2024-02-02 13:23:13

## Introduction
Tuples is a datatype in Python, it provides a way to store multiple items within a single variable. This article explores tuples, comparing them with other data types like lists, sets, and dictionaries, showing their unique features.

**What is a tuple?**

A tuple is an ordered and unchangeable collection written with round brackets.  

> Example of a tuple:

`my_tuple = ("Kiwi", "orange", "mango")
`
**Basic Tuple Properties**

**Ordered**: Tuples maintain a defined order of items.
**Unchangeable**: Once created, tuples remain immutable; items cannot be altered, added, or removed.
**Allow Duplicates**: Similar values can exist in a tuple.

How to:

**Create A Tuple**

```
fruits = ("apple", "kiwi", "banana")
print(fruits)
```

**1. Accessing items in a tuple;**

There are two ways to access a tuple.

> 
By index;

if you want to access the second item in the fruits tuple above, you can do this;

```

second_fruit = fruits[1]
print(second_fruit, fruits)

```
 The first item has index 0.

> 
By negative indexing;

Negative indexing means starting from the end.
so the last item is accessed by -1, 2nd last item on the list is -2, and so on

```
last_fruit = fruits([-1])
print(last_fruit)
```

> 
Range of indexes;

You can specify a range of indexes by specifying where to start and where to end the range. The new tuple will be a new list.

```
partial_fruits = fruits[1:3]
print(partial_fruits)
```

**2. Modifying tuples**

> 
By changing the value;

So we will still use the fruits tuple.
`fruits = ("apple", "kiwi", "banana")
` to change the values you first convert the tuple to a list and then change it back to a tuple, because tuples are immutable.
example;

```
fruits = ("apple", "kiwi", "banana")
to_list = list(fruits)
to_list[0] = "Mango"
to_tuple = tuple(to_list)
print(to_tuple)

```
So to check the data type of the tuple you can do that by using the `type()` method;

This checks if the above code is a tuple or still a list after changing the initial values in our tuple. 
`print(type(to_tuple))
`

> 
Adding Items

You can add an item to a tuple by converting it to a list first and then to a tuple, you use the `append()` method to add the item as the last item.

How it's done;

```
fruits = ("apple", "kiwi", "banana")
x =  list(fruits)
x.append("orange")
fruits = tuple(x)
print(fruits)
```
or you can do this;

```
thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
y = ("orange",)
thistuple += y
print(thistuple)
```

**3. Iterating Through Tuples**

you can iterate through tuples using the loop or while loop method.

> 
Using For Loop


```
thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
for fruit in thistuple:
 print(fruit)
```

>
 Looping Through Index Numbers

```
thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
for i in range(len(thistuple)):
 print(thistuple[i])
```

> 
Using a While Loop

```
thistuple = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
i = 0
while i < len(thistuple):
 print(thistuple[i])
 i = i + 1
```

**4. Combining and Multiplying Tuples**

> 
Combining Tuples/Adding them together

To join two or more tuples you use the + operator:

```
tuple1 = ("a", "b" , "c")
tuple2 = (1, 2, 3)
tuple3 = tuple1 + tuple2
print(tuple3)

```

> 
Multiplying tuples

If you want to multiply the content of a tuple a given number of times, you can use the * operator:

```
fruits = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
doubled_fruits = fruits * 2
print(doubled_fruits)

```