Data types in python
Data types are one of the building blocks of python. And You can do a lot of things with data types!
Fact: In python, all data types are implemented as an object.
A data type is like a specification of what kind of data we would like to store in memory and python has some built-in data types in these categories:
- Text type: str
- Numeric types: int, float, complex
- Sequence types: list, tuple, range
- Mapping type: dict
- Set types: set, frozenset
- Boolean type: bool
- Binary types: bytes, bytearray, memoryview
Now, let’s demistify all these data types by using type() function to display the data type of the variable.
Text type
str
- str stands for string in python used for storing text in python.
- Strings can be written either in single quotes or double qoutes in python, hence your choice.
Example:
Output:
Hello, world!
<class 'str'>
Numeric types
int
- int stands for integer used to store integers (positive and negative numbers).
Example:
Output:
4
<class 'int'>
float
- float stands for floating-point numbers (decimal point numbers)
Example:
Output:
3.14
<class 'float'>
complex
- Complex numbers have a real and imaginary part, which are each a floating point number.
- Complex numbers can be written in two forms:
- real + (imag)j
- complex(real, imag)
Example:
Output:
(5+10j)
<class 'complex'>
Sequence types
list
- A list is data type where you can store a collection of data
- A list can also contain different data types
- A list is ordered and changeable and allows duplicate members
Example:
Output:
['Captain America', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', 'Hulk', 'Black Widow', 'Hawkeye']
<class 'list'>
tuple
- A tuple is data type where you can store a collection of data
- A tuple can also contain different data types
- A tuple is ordered and unchangeable and allows duplicate members
Example:
Output:
('Captain America', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', 'Hulk', 'Black Widow', 'Hawkeye')
<class 'tuple'>
range
- The range type represents an immutable (unchangable) sequence of numbers
- Commonly used for looping a specific number of times in for loops.
Example:
Output:
range(0, 10)
<class 'range'>
Mapping type
dict
- dict stands for dictionary in python
- Dictionaries are used to store data values in key:value pairs
- A dictionary is a collection which is unordered, changeable and does not allow duplicates
Example:
Output:
{'Learning': 'Programming', 'Language': 'Python', 'Day': 4}
<class 'dict'>
Set types
set
- A set is data type where you can store a collection of data
- A set can also contain different data types
- A set is unordered and unindexed and allows no duplicate members
Example:
Output:
{'Black Widow', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', 'Hawkeye', 'Hulk', 'Captain America'}
<class 'set'>
frozenset
- frozenset data type can be created by frozenset() function
- The frozenset() function accepts an iterable and returns an unchangeable frozenset object (which is like a set object, only unchangeable)
Example:
Output:
frozenset({'cherry', 'banana', 'apple'})
<class 'frozenset'>
Boolean type
bool
- bool stands for boolean in python
- Booleans represent one of two values: True or False
Example:
Output:
True
<class 'bool'>
False
<class 'bool'>
Binary types
bytes
- bytes data type can be created in two forms:
- bytes() function
- prefix ‘b’
Example:
Output:
b'hello'
<class 'bytes'>
b'Hello'
<class 'bytes'>
bytearray
- bytearray() function returns a bytearray object
- It can convert objects into bytearray objects
Example:
Output:
bytearray(b'\x00\x00\x00\x00')
<class 'bytearray'>
memoryview
- memoryview() function returns a memory view object from a specified object
Example:
Output:
<memory at 0x2b4f7a8a7408>
<class 'memoryview'>
Note
As you might have observed earlier, some data types can be also implemented using their constructors. This same technique can also be applied to every data type. Example:
Output:
Hello, World!
4
3.14
(5+10j)
['Captain America', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', 'Hulk', 'Black Widow', 'Hawkeye']
('Captain America', 'Iron Man', 'Thor', 'Hulk', 'Black Widow', 'Hawkeye')
range(0, 10)
{'Learning': 'Programming', 'Language': 'Python', 'Day': 4}
{'apple', 'cherry', 'banana'}
frozenset({'banana', 'cherry', 'apple'})
True
False
b'\x00\x00\x00\x00'
bytearray(b'\x00\x00\x00\x00')
<memory at 0x2b8346a29408>
