Understanding Python Data Types: Built-in and Their Uses
Explore Python's built-in data types and their categories, including text, numeric, sequence, mapping, set, boolean, binary, and None types. Learn how each data type is used and the operations you can perform. This guide also covers how to determine the type of a variable in Python.
Python Data Types
Built-in Data Types
In programming, understanding data types is crucial. Variables can store data of different types, and each type can perform different operations. Python has several built-in data types categorized as follows:
| Text Type: | str |
| Numeric Types: | int, float, complex |
| Sequence Types: | list, tuple, range |
| Mapping Types: | dict |
| Set Types: | set, frozenset |
| Boolean Type: | bool |
| Binary Types: | bytes, bytearray, memoryview |
| None Type: | NoneType |
Getting the Data Type
You can find out the data type of any object by using the
type() function:
Example
Print the data type of the variable x:
x = 10
print(type(x))
Output
<class 'int'>
Setting the Data Type
In Python, the data type is set when you assign a value to a variable. Here are some examples:
| Example | Data Type |
|---|---|
x = "Hello World" |
str |
x = 20 |
int |
x = 20.5 |
float |
x = 1j |
complex |
x = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] |
list |
x = ("apple", "banana", "cherry") |
tuple |
x = range(6) |
range |
x = {"name" : "John", "age" : 36} |
dict |
x = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"} |
set |
x = frozenset({"apple", "banana", "cherry"}) |
frozenset |
x = True |
bool |
x = b"Hello" |
bytes |
x = bytearray(5) |
bytearray |
x = memoryview(bytes(5)) |
memoryview |
x = None |
NoneType |
Setting a Specific Data Type
If you want to specify the data type, you can use the following constructor functions:
| Example | Data Type |
|---|---|
x = str("Hello World") |
str |
x = int(20) |
int |
x = float(20.5) |
float |
x = complex(1j) |
complex |
x = list(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) |
list |
x = tuple(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) |
tuple |
x = range(6) |
range |
x = dict(name="John", age=36) |
dict |
x = set(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) |
set |
x = frozenset(("apple", "banana", "cherry")) |
frozenset |
x = bool(5) |
bool |
x = bytes(5) |
bytes |
x = bytearray(5) |
bytearray |
x = memoryview(bytes(5)) |
memoryview |