Checking if all elements in a list are unique
PythonAlgorithmListUniquePython Problem Overview
What is the best way (best as in the conventional way) of checking whether all elements in a list are unique?
My current approach using a Counter
is:
>>> x = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2]
>>> counter = Counter(x)
>>> for values in counter.itervalues():
if values > 1:
# do something
Can I do better?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
Not the most efficient, but straight forward and concise:
if len(x) > len(set(x)):
pass # do something
Probably won't make much of a difference for short lists.
Solution 2 - Python
Here is a two-liner that will also do early exit:
>>> def allUnique(x):
... seen = set()
... return not any(i in seen or seen.add(i) for i in x)
...
>>> allUnique("ABCDEF")
True
>>> allUnique("ABACDEF")
False
If the elements of x aren't hashable, then you'll have to resort to using a list for seen
:
>>> def allUnique(x):
... seen = list()
... return not any(i in seen or seen.append(i) for i in x)
...
>>> allUnique([list("ABC"), list("DEF")])
True
>>> allUnique([list("ABC"), list("DEF"), list("ABC")])
False
Solution 3 - Python
An early-exit solution could be
def unique_values(g):
s = set()
for x in g:
if x in s: return False
s.add(x)
return True
however for small cases or if early-exiting is not the common case then I would expect len(x) != len(set(x))
being the fastest method.
Solution 4 - Python
for speed:
import numpy as np
x = [1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 2]
np.unique(x).size == len(x)
Solution 5 - Python
How about adding all the entries to a set and checking its length?
len(set(x)) == len(x)
Solution 6 - Python
Alternative to a set
, you can use a dict
.
len({}.fromkeys(x)) == len(x)
Solution 7 - Python
Another approach entirely, using sorted and groupby:
from itertools import groupby
is_unique = lambda seq: all(sum(1 for _ in x[1])==1 for x in groupby(sorted(seq)))
It requires a sort, but exits on the first repeated value.
Solution 8 - Python
Here is a recursive O(N2) version for fun:
def is_unique(lst):
if len(lst) > 1:
return is_unique(s[1:]) and (s[0] not in s[1:])
return True
Solution 9 - Python
Here is a recursive early-exit function:
def distinct(L):
if len(L) == 2:
return L[0] != L[1]
H = L[0]
T = L[1:]
if (H in T):
return False
else:
return distinct(T)
It's fast enough for me without using weird(slow) conversions while having a functional-style approach.
Solution 10 - Python
all answer above are good but i prefer to use all_unique
example from 30 seconds of python
you need to use set()
on the given list to remove duplicates, compare its length with the length of the list.
def all_unique(lst):
return len(lst) == len(set(lst))
it returns True
if all the values in a flat list are unique
, False
otherwise
x = [1,2,3,4,5,6]
y = [1,2,2,3,4,5]
all_unique(x) # True
all_unique(y) # False
Solution 11 - Python
How about this
def is_unique(lst):
if not lst:
return True
else:
return Counter(lst).most_common(1)[0][1]==1
Solution 12 - Python
If and only if you have the data processing library pandas in your dependencies, there's an already implemented solution which gives the boolean you want :
import pandas as pd
pd.Series(lst).is_unique
Solution 13 - Python
You can use Yan's syntax (len(x) > len(set(x))), but instead of set(x), define a function:
def f5(seq, idfun=None):
# order preserving
if idfun is None:
def idfun(x): return x
seen = {}
result = []
for item in seq:
marker = idfun(item)
# in old Python versions:
# if seen.has_key(marker)
# but in new ones:
if marker in seen: continue
seen[marker] = 1
result.append(item)
return result
and do len(x) > len(f5(x)). This will be fast and is also order preserving.
Code there is taken from: http://www.peterbe.com/plog/uniqifiers-benchmark
Solution 14 - Python
Using a similar approach in a Pandas dataframe to test if the contents of a column contains unique values:
if tempDF['var1'].size == tempDF['var1'].unique().size:
print("Unique")
else:
print("Not unique")
For me, this is instantaneous on an int variable in a dateframe containing over a million rows.
Solution 15 - Python
It does not fully fit the question but if you google the task I had you get this question ranked first and it might be of interest to the users as it is an extension of the quesiton. If you want to investigate for each list element if it is unique or not you can do the following:
import timeit
import numpy as np
def get_unique(mylist):
# sort the list and keep the index
sort = sorted((e,i) for i,e in enumerate(mylist))
# check for each element if it is similar to the previous or next one
isunique = [[sort[0][1],sort[0][0]!=sort[1][0]]] + \
[[s[1], (s[0]!=sort[i-1][0])and(s[0]!=sort[i+1][0])]
for [i,s] in enumerate (sort) if (i>0) and (i<len(sort)-1) ] +\
[[sort[-1][1],sort[-1][0]!=sort[-2][0]]]
# sort indices and booleans and return only the boolean
return [a[1] for a in sorted(isunique)]
def get_unique_using_count(mylist):
return [mylist.count(item)==1 for item in mylist]
mylist = list(np.random.randint(0,10,10))
%timeit for x in range(10): get_unique(mylist)
%timeit for x in range(10): get_unique_using_count(mylist)
mylist = list(np.random.randint(0,1000,1000))
%timeit for x in range(10): get_unique(mylist)
%timeit for x in range(10): get_unique_using_count(mylist)
for short lists the get_unique_using_count
as suggested in some answers is fast. But if your list is already longer than 100 elements the count function takes quite long. Thus the approach shown in the get_unique
function is much faster although it looks more complicated.
Solution 16 - Python
If the list is sorted anyway, you can use:
not any(sorted_list[i] == sorted_list[i + 1] for i in range(len(sorted_list) - 1))
Pretty efficient, but not worth sorting for this purpose though.
Solution 17 - Python
For begginers:
def AllDifferent(s):
for i in range(len(s)):
for i2 in range(len(s)):
if i != i2:
if s[i] == s[i2]:
return False
return True