A double-ended queue, or deque, supports adding and removing elements from either end of the queue. The more commonly used stacks and queues are degenerate forms of deques, where the inputs and outputs are restricted to a single end.



In [1]:

    
import collections

d = collections.deque('abcdefg')
print('Deque:', d)
print('Length:', len(d))
print('Left end:', d[0])
print('Right end:', d[-1])

d.remove('c')
print('remove(c):', d)









    



Deque: deque(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'])
Length: 7
Left end: a
Right end: g
remove(c): deque(['a', 'b', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'])

Since deques are a type of sequence container, they support some of the same operations as list, such as examining the contents with __getitem__(), determining length, and removing elements from the middle of the queue by matching identity.

Populating

A deque can be populated from either end, termed “left” and “right” in the Python implementation.



In [2]:

    
import collections

# Add to the right
d1 = collections.deque()
d1.extend('abcdefg')
print('extend    :', d1)
d1.append('h')
print('append    :', d1)

# Add to the left
d2 = collections.deque()
d2.extendleft(range(6))
print('extendleft:', d2)
d2.appendleft(6)
print('appendleft:', d2)









    



extend    : deque(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'])
append    : deque(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h'])
extendleft: deque([5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0])
appendleft: deque([6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0])

The extendleft() function iterates over its input and performs the equivalent of an appendleft() for each item. The end result is that the deque contains the input sequence in reverse order.

Consuming

Similarly, the elements of the deque can be consumed from both ends or either end, depending on the algorithm being applied.



In [3]:

    
import collections

print('From the right:')
d = collections.deque('abcdefg')
while True:
    try:
        print(d.pop(), end='')
    except IndexError:
        break
print()

print('\nFrom the left:')
d = collections.deque(range(6))
while True:
    try:
        print(d.popleft(), end='')
    except IndexError:
        break
print()









    



From the right:
gfedcba

From the left:
012345

Use pop() to remove an item from the “right” end of the deque and popleft() to take an item from the “left” end.

Since deques are thread-safe, the contents can even be consumed from both ends at the same time from separate threads.



In [4]:

    
import collections
import threading
import time

candle = collections.deque(range(5))


def burn(direction, nextSource):
    while True:
        try:
            next = nextSource()
        except IndexError:
            break
        else:
            print('{:>8}: {}'.format(direction, next))
            time.sleep(0.1)
    print('{:>8} done'.format(direction))
    return


left = threading.Thread(target=burn,
                        args=('Left', candle.popleft))
right = threading.Thread(target=burn,
                         args=('Right', candle.pop))

left.start()
right.start()

left.join()
right.join()









    



    Left: 0
   Right: 4
    Left: 1
   Right: 3
    Left: 2
   Right done
    Left done

Rotating(think it as a belt)

Another useful aspect of the deque is the ability to rotate it in either direction, so as to skip over some items.



In [5]:

    
import collections

d = collections.deque(range(10))
print('Normal        :', d)

d = collections.deque(range(10))
d.rotate(2)
print('Right rotation:', d)

d = collections.deque(range(10))
d.rotate(-2)
print('Left rotation :', d)









    



Normal        : deque([0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9])
Right rotation: deque([8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7])
Left rotation : deque([2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1])

Constraining the Queue Size

A deque instance can be configured with a maximum length so that it never grows beyond that size. When the queue reaches the specified length, existing items are discarded as new items are added. This behavior is useful for finding the last n items in a stream of undetermined length.



In [6]:

    
import collections
import random

# Set the random seed so we see the same output each time
# the script is run.
random.seed(1)

d1 = collections.deque(maxlen=3)
d2 = collections.deque(maxlen=3)

for i in range(5):
    n = random.randint(0, 100)
    print('n =', n)
    d1.append(n)
    d2.appendleft(n)
    print('D1:', d1)
    print('D2:', d2)









    



n = 17
D1: deque([17], maxlen=3)
D2: deque([17], maxlen=3)
n = 72
D1: deque([17, 72], maxlen=3)
D2: deque([72, 17], maxlen=3)
n = 97
D1: deque([17, 72, 97], maxlen=3)
D2: deque([97, 72, 17], maxlen=3)
n = 8
D1: deque([72, 97, 8], maxlen=3)
D2: deque([8, 97, 72], maxlen=3)
n = 32
D1: deque([97, 8, 32], maxlen=3)
D2: deque([32, 8, 97], maxlen=3)



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