[issue17854] symmetric difference operation applicable to more than two sets
New submission from Amit Saha: The description of the symmetric difference operation implies that it cannot be applied to more than two sets (http://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#set.symmetric_difference). However, this is certainly possible:
s={1,2} t={2,3} u={3,4} s^t^u {1, 4} s.symmetric_difference(t).symmetric_difference(u) {1, 4}
I am not sure how much of a "semantic" sense that makes, given that symmetric difference is by definition for two sets. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetric_difference).
So, either the operator should be fixed to allow only two sets or the description be updated.
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assignee: docs@python
components: Documentation
messages: 187899
nosy: Amit.Saha, docs@python
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: symmetric difference operation applicable to more than two sets
type: behavior
versions: Python 3.3
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Python tracker
participants (6)
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Amit Saha
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Ezio Melotti
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Georg Brandl
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Irit Katriel
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Raymond Hettinger
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Terry J. Reedy