How do I use the Counter class from the collections module in Python?

How do I use the Counter class from the collections module in Python?

The Counter class is a part of the collections module and is used to count hashable objects. You can create a Counter by passing an iterable, like a list or a string.

Can you show me a simple example of how to create a Counter?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

from collections import Counter

# Create a Counter from a list
my_list = ['apple', 'banana', 'apple', 'orange']
my_counter = Counter(my_list)
print(my_counter)

This will output: Counter({'apple': 2, 'banana': 1, 'orange': 1}).

What methods can I use with a Counter object?

A Counter object has several useful methods, such as:

• most_common(n): Returns the n most common elements.
• elements(): Returns an iterator over elements repeating each as many times as its count.
• subtract(): Subtracts counts, but keeps only positive counts.

Can I use Counter with strings as well?

Yes, you can! When you pass a string to Counter, it counts the occurrences of each character. For example:

my_string = 'hello'
my_counter = Counter(my_string)
print(my_counter)

This will output: Counter({'l': 2, 'h': 1, 'e': 1, 'o': 1}).