Remove Item
To remove an item in a set, use the remove(), or the discard() method.
Example
Remove “banana” by using the remove() method:
thisset = {“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”}
thisset.remove(“banana”)
print(thisset)
Output:
{‘cherry’, ‘apple’}
Note: If the item to remove does not exist, remove() will raise an error.
Example
Remove “banana” by using the discard() method:
thisset = {“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”}
thisset.discard(“banana”)
print(thisset)
Output:
{‘cherry’, ‘apple’}
Note: If the item to remove does not exist, discard() will NOT raise an error.
You can also use the pop() method to remove an item, but this method will remove the last item. Remember that sets are unordered, so you will not know what item that gets removed.
The return value of the pop() method is the removed item.
Example
Remove the last item by using the pop() method:
thisset = {“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”}
x = thisset.pop()
print(x)
print(thisset)
Output:
banana
{‘apple’, ‘cherry’}
Note: Sets are unordered, so when using the pop() method, you do not know which item that gets removed.
Example
The clear() method empties the set:
thisset = {“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”}
thisset.clear()
print(thisset)
Output:
set()
Example
The del keyword will delete the set completely:
thisset = {“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”}
del thisset
print(thisset) #this will raise an error because the set no longer exists
Output:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “demo_set_del.py”, line 5, in <module>
print(thisset) #this will raise an error because the set no longer exists
NameError: name ‘thisset’ is not defined