Add subtract() method to collections.Counter() objects.
diff --git a/Lib/collections.py b/Lib/collections.py
index 0322669..9edc294 100644
--- a/Lib/collections.py
+++ b/Lib/collections.py
@@ -435,6 +435,34 @@
if kwds:
self.update(kwds)
+ def subtract(self, iterable=None, **kwds):
+ '''Like dict.update() but subtracts counts instead of replacing them.
+ Counts can be reduced below zero. Both the inputs and outputs are
+ allowed to contain zero and negative counts.
+
+ Source can be an iterable, a dictionary, or another Counter instance.
+
+ >>> c = Counter('which')
+ >>> c.subtract('witch') # subtract elements from another iterable
+ >>> c.subtract(Counter('watch')) # subtract elements from another counter
+ >>> c['h'] # 2 in which, minus 1 in witch, minus 1 in watch
+ 0
+ >>> c['w'] # 1 in which, minus 1 in witch, minus 1 in watch
+ -1
+
+ '''
+ if iterable is not None:
+ if isinstance(iterable, Mapping):
+ self_get = self.get
+ for elem, count in iterable.items():
+ self[elem] = self_get(elem, 0) - count
+ else:
+ self_get = self.get
+ for elem in iterable:
+ self[elem] = self_get(elem, 0) - 1
+ if kwds:
+ self.subtract(kwds)
+
def copy(self):
'Like dict.copy() but returns a Counter instance instead of a dict.'
return Counter(self)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_collections.py b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
index a7be8d5..4330583 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_collections.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
@@ -669,6 +669,17 @@
set_result = setop(set(p.elements()), set(q.elements()))
self.assertEqual(counter_result, dict.fromkeys(set_result, 1))
+ def test_subtract(self):
+ c = Counter(a=-5, b=0, c=5, d=10, e=15,g=40)
+ c.subtract(a=1, b=2, c=-3, d=10, e=20, f=30, h=-50)
+ self.assertEqual(c, Counter(a=-6, b=-2, c=8, d=0, e=-5, f=-30, g=40, h=50))
+ c = Counter(a=-5, b=0, c=5, d=10, e=15,g=40)
+ c.subtract(Counter(a=1, b=2, c=-3, d=10, e=20, f=30, h=-50))
+ self.assertEqual(c, Counter(a=-6, b=-2, c=8, d=0, e=-5, f=-30, g=40, h=50))
+ c = Counter('aaabbcd')
+ c.subtract('aaaabbcce')
+ self.assertEqual(c, Counter(a=-1, b=0, c=-1, d=1, e=-1))
+
class TestOrderedDict(unittest.TestCase):
def test_init(self):