What is mutable and immutable in Python
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In python, every variable holds the instance of an object. There are two types of objects in python, Mutable and Immutable objects. When an object is instantiated, it is assigned a unique object id. The type of this object is defined at the runtime and it can’t be changed afterward. However, it’s state can be changed if it is a mutable object.
Mutable objects can change their state or contents and immutable objects can’t change their state or content.
- Immutable Objects: In-built types like int, float, bool, string, Unicode, tuple. An immutable object can’t be changed after it is created.
t = (1, 2, 3, 4) t[2] = 5 print(t)
Error:
Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
- Mutable Objects : list, dict, set are the mutable objects in Python . Custom classes are generally mutable.
week = ["monday", "wednesday", "thursday"] print(week[1]) week[1]="tuesday" print(week)
Output:
wednesday ['monday', 'tuesday', 'thursday']
Mutable and immutable objects are handled differently in python. Immutable objects are quicker to access and are expensive to change because it involves the creation of a copy.
Whereas mutable objects are easy to change.
Use of mutable objects is recommended when there is a need to change the size or content of the object.