What Is Tuple Unpacking In Python

2 min readMay 9, 2022

The aim of this tutorial🔍 is to cover the subject of Tuple Unpacking in Python, defined as

Destructuring operation unpacking data structures into named references

To decrypt the definition, look for types and examples below. If in doubt, reach out to Multiple assignment and tuple unpacking improve Python code readability — Trey Hunner

1. LITERAL

aka multiple assignment
this is not only with a simple binding of literal values in a function that calculates the running total of natural numbers from a → b
`total, k = 0, 1` unpacks the ordered pair `(0,1)` into `total = 0` and `k = 1`

def sum_naturals(n):
        total, k = 0, 1 #SEE ABOVE
        while k <= n:
            total, k = total + k, k + 1
        return total

— From 1.6 Higher-Order Functions @ SICP in Python

Or another example

>>> pair = (1,2)
>>> pair
(1,2)
>>> x,y = pair
>>> x
1
>>> y 
2

2. FUNCTIONAL

say that you have a function to get the min and max values of a tuple

def minmax(items):
    return min(items), max(items)

min, max = minmax(items)

# ALL PASSED
def test_minmax_tupple():
    input = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
    result = minmax(input)
    assert result == (1, 5)


def test_minmax_min():
    input = 1, 5, 7
    resultMin = minmax(input)[0]
    assert resultMin == 1


def test_minmax_max():
    input = 1, 33, 99
    resultMax = minmax(input)[1]
    assert resultMax == 99

def test_minmax_min_unpacked():
    input = 1, 5, 7
    resultMin, resultMax = minmax(input)
    assert resultMin == 1


def test_minmax_max_unpacked():
    input = 1, 33, 99
    resultMin, resultMax = minmax(input)
    assert resultMax == 99