>>> c = Counter('abcdeabcdabcaba') # count elements from a string >>> c.most_common(3) # three most common elements [('a', 5), ('b', 4), ('c', 3)] >>> sorted(c) # list all unique elements ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'] >>> ''.join(sorted(c.elements())) # list elements with repetitions 'aaaaabbbbcccdde' >>> sum(c.values()) # total of all counts 15 >>> c['a'] # count of letter 'a' 5 >>> for elem in 'shazam': # update counts from an iterable ... c[elem] += 1 # by adding 1 to each element's count >>> c['a'] # now there are seven 'a' 7 >>> del c['b'] # remove all 'b' >>> c['b'] # now there are zero 'b' 0 >>> d = Counter('simsalabim') # make another counter >>> c.update(d) # add in the second counter >>> c['a'] # now there are nine 'a' 9 >>> c.clear() # empty the counter >>> c Counter() Note: If a count is set to zero or reduced to zero, it will remain in the counter until the entry is deleted or the counter is cleared: >>> c = Counter('aaabbc') >>> c['b'] -= 2 # reduce the count of 'b' by two >>> c.most_common() # 'b' is still in, but its count is zero [('a', 3), ('c', 1), ('b', 0)] Nc