Built-in Data Types
In programming, data type is an important concept.
Variables can store data of different types, and different types can do different things.
Python has the following data types built-in by default, in these categories:
| Text Type: | str
|
| Numeric Types: | int, float, complex
|
| Sequence Types: | list, tuple, range
|
| Mapping Type: | dict
|
| Set Types: | set, frozenset
|
| Boolean Type: | bool
|
| Binary Types: | bytes, bytearray, memoryview
|
| None Type: | NoneType
|
Getting the Data Type
You can get the data type of any object by using the type[] function:
Example
Print the data type of the variable x:
x = 5
print[type[x]]
Try it Yourself »
Setting the Data Type
In Python, the data type is set when you assign a value to a variable:
| x = "Hello World" | str | Try it » |
| x = 20 | int | Try it » |
| x = 20.5 | float | Try it » |
| x = 1j | complex | Try it » |
| x = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] | list | Try it » |
| x = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"] | tuple | Try it » |
| x = range[6] | range | Try it » |
| x = {"name" : "John", "age" : 36} | dict | Try it » |
| x = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"} | set | Try it » |
| x = frozenset[{"apple", "banana", "cherry"}] | frozenset | Try it » |
| x = True | bool | Try it » |
| x = b"Hello" | bytes | Try it » |
| x = bytearray[5] | bytearray | Try it » |
| x = memoryview[bytes[5]] | memoryview | Try it » |
| x = None | NoneType | Try it » |
Setting the Specific Data Type
If you want to specify the data type, you can use the following constructor functions:
| x = str["Hello World"] | str | Try it » |
| x = int[20] | int | Try it » |
| x = float[20.5] | float | Try it » |
| x = complex[1j] | complex | Try it » |
| x = list[["apple", "banana", "cherry"]] | list | Try it » |
| x = tuple[["apple", "banana", "cherry"]] | tuple | Try it » |
| x = range[6] | range | Try it » |
| x = dict[name="John", age=36] | dict | Try it » |
| x = set[["apple", "banana", "cherry"]] | set | Try it » |
| x = frozenset[["apple", "banana", "cherry"]] | frozenset | Try it » |
| x = bool[5] | bool | Try it » |
| x = bytes[5] | bytes | Try it » |
| x = bytearray[5] | bytearray | Try it » |
| x = memoryview[bytes[5]] | memoryview | Try it » |
Test Yourself With Exercises
Exercise:
The following code example would print the data type of x, what data type would that be?
Start the Exercise
Data types
Data types are the classification of data items. Data types represents a kind of value which determines what can be done to that data.
What are the different types of data in Python?
| Strings | "Hello!", "23.34" | Text - anything between " " becomes string | Immutable |
| Integers | 5364 | Whole numbers | Immutable |
| Floats | 3.1415 | Decimal Numbers | Immutable |
| Booleans | True, False | Truth values that represent Yes/No | Immutable |
| Lists | [1,2,3,4,5] | A collection of data, sits between [ ] | Mutable |
| Tuples | [1,2,3,4,5] | A collection of data, sits between [ ] | Immutable |
| Dictionaries | {"a":1, "b":2, "c":3} | A collection of data, sits between { } | Mutable |
How do you set data types?
Data types are set when you assign a value to a variable.
| ex_1 = "Hello World" | string | The data assigned sits in between " " |
| ex_2 = 254 | integer | The data assigned does not sit in between " " , and is a whole number |
| ex_3 = 25.43 | float | The data assigned does not sit in between " " , and is a decimal number |
| ex_4 = ["Anna", "Bella", "Cora"] | list | A list of strings - Data assigned sits in between " " , within [ ] |
How do you check data types?
Use the type[ ] function to check data types.
type[x] determines and returns what is the type of the input x
Click the
triangle button to run the codes and see the output:
Type conversion
To convert variables from one type to another [i.e. integers to floats], we use type conversions as follows:
| strings | str[] |
| integer | int[] |
| floats | float[] |
| lists | list[] |
Application