Class Counter

Lib/collections/__init__.py:552–989

Dict subclass for counting hashable items. Sometimes called a bag or multiset. Elements are stored as dictionary keys and their counts are stored as dictionary values. >>> c = Counter('abcdeabcdabcaba') # count elements from a string >>> c.most_common(3) # three m

    pass

class Counter(dict):
    '''Dict subclass for counting hashable items.  Sometimes called a bag
    or multiset.  Elements are stored as dictionary keys and their counts
    are stored as dictionary values.

    >>> c = Counter('abcdeabcdabcaba')  # count elements from a string

    >>> c.most_common(3)                # three most common elements
    [('a', 5), ('b', 4), ('c', 3)]
    >>> sorted(c)                       # list all unique elements
    ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
    >>> ''.join(sorted(c.elements()))   # list elements with repetitions
    'aaaaabbbbcccdde'
    >>> sum(c.values())                 # total of all counts
    15

    >>> c['a']                          # count of letter 'a'
    5
    >>> for elem in 'shazam':           # update counts from an iterable
    ...     c[elem] += 1                # by adding 1 to each element's count
    >>> c['a']                          # now there are seven 'a'
    7
    >>> del c['b']                      # remove all 'b'
    >>> c['b']                          # now there are zero 'b'
    0

    >>> d = Counter('simsalabim')       # make another counter
    >>> c.update(d)                     # add in the second counter
    >>> c['a']                          # now there are nine 'a'
    9

    >>> c.clear()                       # empty the counter
    >>> c
    Counter()

    Note:  If a count is set to zero or reduced to zero, it will remain
    in the counter until the entry is deleted or the counter is cleared:

    >>> c = Counter('aaabbc')
    >>> c['b'] -= 2                     # reduce the count of 'b' by two
    >>> c.most_common()                 # 'b' is still in, but its count is zero
    [('a', 3), ('c', 1), ('b', 0)]

    '''
    # References:
    #   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiset
    #   http://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/Bag.html
    #   http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/Cpp/0380__set-multiset/Catalog0380__set-multiset.htm
    #   http://code.activestate.com/recipes/259174/
    #   Knuth, TAOCP Vol. II section 4.6.3

    def __init__(self, iterable=None, /, **kwds):
        '''Create a new, empty Counter object.  And if given, count elements
        from an input iterable.  Or, initialize the count from another mapping
        of elements to their counts.

        >>> c = Counter()                           # a new, empty counter
        >>> c = Counter('gallahad')                 # a new counter from an iterable