Opposite of set.intersection in python?

Question

In Python you can use a.intersection(b) to find the items common to both sets.

Is there a way to do the disjoint opposite version of this? Items that are not common to both a and b; the unique items in a unioned with the unique items in b?

Answer 1

You are looking for the symmetric difference; all elements that appear only in set a or in set b, but not both:

a.symmetric_difference(b) 

From the set.symmetric_difference() method documentation:

Return a new set with elements in either the set or other but not both.

You can use the ^ operator too, if both a and b are sets:

a ^ b 

while set.symmetric_difference() takes any iterable for the other argument.

The output is the equivalent of (a | b) - (a & b), the union of both sets minus the intersection of both sets.

Answer 2

a={1,2,4,5,6} b={5,6,4,9} c=(a^b)&b print(c) # you got {9}