What is a Tuple in Python?

A tuple is one of Python’s built-in data types used to store a collection of items. Tuples are:

• Ordered – elements have a fixed position.
• Immutable – once defined, values cannot be changed.
• Allow duplicates – elements can repeat.
• Use parentheses () or the tuple() constructor.
• A single-element tuple requires a trailing comma.

Tuples are written with round brackets () and items are separated by commas.

How to Create a Tuple

Example 1: Basic Tuple

my_tuple = (1, 2, 3)
print(my_tuple)

Output:

(1, 2, 3)

Example 2: Tuple with Different Data Types

mixed_tuple = (101, "Alice", 3.14, True)
print(mixed_tuple)

Output:

(101, 'Alice', 3.14, True)

Example 3: Tuple Without Parentheses (Tuple Packing)

packed_tuple = 5, 10, 15
print(packed_tuple)

Output:

(5, 10, 15)

Example 4: Single Element Tuple

single_element = ("Python",)  # Note the comma
print(type(single_element))

Output:

<class 'tuple'>

Accessing Tuple Elements

Example 1: Access Using Index

fruits = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(fruits[0])

Output

apple

Example 2: Negative Indexing

fruits = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")
print(fruits[-1])

Output:

cherry

Slicing Tuples

You can use slicing to retrieve a subset of the tuple.

Example 1:

colors = ("red", "green", "blue", "yellow")
print(colors[1:3])

Output:

('green', 'blue')

Immutability of Tuples

You cannot change the values of a tuple after creation.

Example 1:

numbers = (1, 2, 3)
numbers[0] = 100  # Trying to modify

Output:

TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment

Adding Items to a Tuple

You can’t modify a tuple directly, but you can create a new tuple by concatenation.

Example 1:

t1 = (1, 2)
t2 = (3,)
new_tuple = t1 + t2
print(new_tuple)

Output:

(1, 2, 3)

Removing Items from a Tuple

You cannot remove individual items from a tuple, but you can delete the whole tuple.

Example 1:

t = (10, 20, 30)
del t
# print(t) would now raise an error

Looping Through a Tuple

Example 1:

colors = ("red", "green", "blue")
for color in colors:
   print(color)

Output:

red
green
blue

Tuple Methods

Tuples only have two built-in methods: count() and index().

Example 1:

nums = (1, 2, 3, 2, 2, 4)
print(nums.count(2))   # How many times 2 appears
print(nums.index(3))   # Index of first occurrence of 3

Output:

3
2

Tuple Unpacking

Tuple unpacking lets you assign values to multiple variables at once.

Example 1:

person = ("John", 25, "Engineer")
name, age, job = person
print(name)
print(age)
print(job)

Output:

John
25
Engineer

Tuple vs List Comparison

Practice Exercises

• Create a tuple of 5 elements and print it.
• Access the 3rd item using indexing.
• Use slicing to get the last 3 elements.
• Count how many times 5 appears in (1, 5, 3, 5, 5).
• Try to change the first element and observe the error.

Conclusion

• Tuples are ordered and immutable collections in Python.
• Defined using round brackets ().
• Useful when working with fixed sets of data.
• Provide better performance than lists for read-only operations.