How to Fix “TypeError: Tuple Does Not Support Item Assignment” in Python?

Did you assign a tuple to a new value and get the TypeError: tuple does not support item assignment in Python?

If you’re working with Python and you encounter the “TypeError: ‘tuple’ does not support item assignment” error, it means that you are trying to change the value of an element within a tuple, which is not possible.

When we try to update the value of an item in a tuple, Python throws the error TypeError: ‘tuple’ object does not support item assignment. Tuples are immutable data types, hence assigning a tuple to a variable or data causes the TypeError exception. Transforming tuples to lists or slicing them, can be helpful in preventing the TypeError: ‘tuple’ object does not support item assignment.

Furthermore, you can convert the tuple to a list, to make the necessary changes, and then convert the list back to a tuple to fix the problem. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the TypeError: tuple object does not support item assignment in Python, why it occurs, and how to fix ⚒️it. So without further ado, let’s dive deep into the topic. Let’s go over a few examples that will show this error’s causes and possible solutions.

Why Does The TypeError:  Tuple Does Not Support Item Assignment Error Occur?

As we’ve discussed in Python, when we try to assign a new value to a tuple that causes TypeError:  tuple object does not support item assignment. Let’s see an example 👇

Code

Tuple_1 = ("Charles", "Danial", "Henry")

Tuple_1[2] = "Kelvin"

print(Tuple_1)

Output

See the above example; we have created a tuple Tuple_1 and assigned values. Then we assigned “Kelvin” at index 2 of Tuple and print the tuple that gives the TypeError:  tuple does not support item assignment as we are trying to assign a value to an already created tuple.

Code

Tuple_1 = ("Charles", "Danial", "Henry")

Tuple_new_list = list(Tuple_1)

Tuple_new_list='1'

print(Tuple_new_list)

Output

1

As we have seen in the above example, we have created a tuple and assigned a value, we can convert the tuple into a list, and then we can assign values to it. To convert a tuple into a list, we utilized the list() class. In the above example, we have assigned 1. 

How to Fix TypeError: ‘Tuple’ Object Does Not Support Item Assignment in Python?

To fix the error first we have to change the tuple to a list: we have three different alternate solutions.

1. Assigning a Value to the Index
2. With the Use of Slice Operator
3. Apply List Inside a Tuple

1. Assigning a Value to the Index

We have to convert Convert the tuple into a list by using a list function and then assigning a value at any index of a list that will update any elements in the list. The final step is to convert 

final list back to a tuple as shown in the following example.

Code

Tuple_1 = ("Charles", "Danial", "Henry")

print('Tuple before assigning a value:',Tuple_1)

Tuple_new_list = list(Tuple_1)

Tuple_new_list[1] = 'Sofia'

Tuple_new = tuple(Tuple_new_list)

print('Updated Tuple:', Tuple_new)

Output

Tuple before assigning a value: ('Charles', 'Danial', 'Henry')

Updated Tuple: ('Charles', 'Sofia', 'Henry')

In the above example, we have converted the tuple to a list, assigned “Sofia” at the index on the list, and again converted the list to a tuple and printed it.

2. With the Use of Slice Operator

This “Type error: tuple object does not support item assignment” can also be avoided using the slicing operator. Let’s look at how we can slice our original tuple to get a new one after omitting some elements of the tuple. You can also add an element to any index after in  the tuple using the slice operator.

Code

Tuple_1 = ("Charles", "Danial", "Henry","Hanna")

print('Tuple :',Tuple_1)

Tuple_new_list = list(Tuple_1)

print('Tuple after slicing : ',Tuple_new_list[2:])

Output

Tuple : ('Charles', 'Danial', 'Henry', 'Hanna')

Tuple after slicing : ['Henry', 'Hanna']

3. Apply List Inside a Tuple

If one element in a tuple is listed, only on that particular index we can assign another element. But if we assign an element at the index of an element that is not a list it will generate a “Type error: tuple object does not support item assignment.” Let’s see what happens when a tuple has a list as one of its elements.

Code

Tuple_1 = ("Charles", "Danial", "Henry",["Hanna"])

Tuple_1[3].append("Sofia")

print("Updated Tuple:", Tuple_1)

Output

Updated Tuple: ('Charles', 'Danial', 'Henry', ['Hanna', 'Sofia'])

Conclusion

To summarize the article on how to fix the TypeError: tuple does not support item assignment, we’ve discussed why it occurs and how to fix it. Furthermore, we’ve seen that the three approaches that help fix the TypeError: ‘tuple’ object do not support item assignment, including Assigning a value to the index, With the use of slice Operator, Applying a list inside a tuple

Let’s have a quick recap of the topics discussed in this article.

1. Why does the TypeError: ‘tuple’ object does not support item assignment occurs?
2. How to fix the TypeError TypeError: tuple does not support item assignment in Python?
3. Assigning a value to the index.
4. With the use of slice Operator.
5. Apply List inside a Tuple.

If you’ve found this article helpful, don’t forget to share and comment below 👇 which solutions have helped you solve the problem.

Happy Coding!