Check If a Tuple Is Empty in Python

In this tutorial, we will look at how to check if a tuple is empty or not in Python with the help of some examples.

How to check if a tuple is empty?

Tuples are ordered collections of items (that are immutable) in Python. A tuple is empty if it does not contain any item. You can use the following methods to check if a tuple is empty or not in Python.

• Using the len() function.
• Comparing the tuple with an empty tuple.
• Using the tuple in a boolean context.

Let’s now take a look at each of the above methods with the help of some examples.

Using the len() function

The length of an empty tuple is zero.

You can use the Python len() function to calculate the length of the tuple and then compare it with zero to check if it is empty or not. Here’s an example –

# create two tuples - t1 is empty and t2 is non-empty
t1 = ()
t2 = (1, 2, 3)
# check if tuple is empty
print(len(t1)==0)
print(len(t2)==0)

Output:

True
False

We get True as the output for the tuple t1 as it is empty and False for the tuple t2 because it’s not empty (has non-zero length).

Comparing the tuple with an empty tuple

You can also check if a tuple is empty or not by comparing it with an empty tuple using the == operator. Let’s look at an example.

# create two tuples - t1 is empty and t2 is non-empty
t1 = ()
t2 = (1, 2, 3)
# check if tuple is empty
print(t1 == ())
print(t2 == ())

Output:

True
False

We get the same results as above.

Note that here we use () without any elements to represent an empty tuple. You can also use the tuple() constructor with default parameters to create an empty tuple.

Tuple in a boolean context

If you use a tuple in a boolean context, it will evaluate to True if it has any elements and it will evaluate to False if the tuple is empty. Thus, you can use the expression not t to check if the tuple t is empty or not.

Here’s an example.

# create two tuples - t1 is empty and t2 is non-empty
t1 = ()
t2 = (1, 2, 3)
# check if tuple is empty
print(not t1)
print(not t2)

Output:

True
False

We get the same result as above. True for the tuple t1 as it’s empty and False for the tuple t2 as it’s not empty (t2 has three elements).

In this tutorial, we looked at three methods to check if a tuple is empty or not. Use the method that you are the most comfortable with.

You might also be interested in –

• Python – Check If a List is Empty – With Examples
• Python – Check If Set Is Empty – With Examples