🛠 Set Methods

Last Updated: 17th August 2025

  • add() – Adds a single element to the set.
fruits = {"apple", "banana"}
fruits.add("mango")
print(fruits)   # {'apple', 'banana', 'mango'}
  • update() – Adds multiple elements to the set.
fruits = {"apple", "banana"}
fruits.update(["mango", "kiwi"])
print(fruits)   # {'apple', 'banana', 'mango', 'kiwi'}
  • remove() – Removes a single element from the set.
fruits = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits.remove("banana")
print(fruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry'}
fruits.remove("mango")  # KeyError
  • discard() – Removes a single element from the set if it exists.
fruits = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits.discard("banana")
print(fruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry'}
fruits.discard("mango")  # No error
  • pop() – Removes and returns an arbitrary element from the set.
fruits = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruit = fruits.pop()
print(fruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry'}
  • intersection() – Returns a new set with elements common to both sets also use &.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"banana", "kiwi", "mango"}
commonFruits = fruits1.intersection(fruits2)
print(commonFruits)   # {'banana'}

commonFruits = fruits1 & fruits2
print(commonFruits)   # {'banana'}
  • union() – Returns a new set with elements from both sets also use |.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"banana", "kiwi", "mango"}
allFruits = fruits1.union(fruits2)
print(allFruits)   # {'apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'kiwi', 'mango'}

allFruits = fruits1 | fruits2
print(allFruits)   # {'apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'kiwi', 'mango'}
  • difference() – Returns a new set with elements in the first set but not in the second set also use -.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"banana", "kiwi", "mango"}
diffFruits = fruits1.difference(fruits2)
print(diffFruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry'}

diffFruits = fruits1 - fruits2
print(diffFruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry'}
  • symmetric_difference() – Returns a new set with elements in either the first set or the second set but not in both also use ^.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"banana", "kiwi", "mango"}
symDiffFruits = fruits1.symmetric_difference(fruits2)
print(symDiffFruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry', 'kiwi', 'mango'}

symDiffFruits = fruits1 ^ fruits2
print(symDiffFruits)   # {'apple', 'cherry', 'kiwi', 'mango'}
  • isdisjoint() – Returns True if two sets have a null intersection.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"kiwi", "mango"}
isDisjoint = fruits1.isdisjoint(fruits2)
print(isDisjoint)   # True
  • issubset() – Returns True if another set contains this set.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"apple", "banana"}
isSubset = fruits1.issubset(fruits2)
print(isSubset)   # False
  • issuperset() – Returns True if this set contains another set.
fruits1 = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}
fruits2 = {"apple", "banana"}
isSuperset = fruits1.issuperset(fruits2)
print(isSuperset)   # True

💡 Quick Practice

  • Create a set of your favorite fruits.
  • Add a new fruit to the set.
  • Remove a fruit from the set.
  • Loop through the set and print each fruit.
  • Exercise
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