Python: Find the powerset of a given iterable

Last update on April 19 2025 13:00:54 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Generate Powerset of Iterable

Write a Python program to get the powerset of a given iterable.

Note: A Power Set is a set of all the subsets of a set.

Use list() to convert the given value to a list.
Use range() and itertools.combinations() to create a generator that returns all subsets.
Use itertools.chain.from_iterable() and list() to consume the generator and return a list.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

from itertools import chain, combinations

# Define a function to generate the powerset of an iterable.
def powerset(iterable):
    s = list(iterable)  # Convert the input iterable to a list.
    return list(chain.from_iterable(combinations(s, r) for r in range(len(s) + 1)))

# Example 1
nums = [1, 2]
print("Original list elements:")
print(nums)
print("Powerset of the said list:")
print(powerset(nums))

# Example 2
nums = [1, 2, 3, 4]
print("\nOriginal list elements:")
print(nums)
print("Powerset of the said list:")
print(powerset(nums))

Sample Output:

Original list elements:
[1, 2]
Powerset of the said list:
[(), (1,), (2,), (1, 2)]

Original list elements:
[1, 2, 3, 4]
Powerset of the said list:
[(), (1,), (2,), (3,), (4,), (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 4), (1, 2, 3), (1, 2, 4), (1, 3, 4), (2, 3, 4), (1, 2, 3, 4)]

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program to generate the powerset of a given iterable excluding the empty set.
Write a Python program to compute the powerset of a list and then filter out subsets that do not meet a specified size criterion.
Write a Python program to generate the powerset of an iterable and return the result as a list of sorted tuples.
Write a Python program to generate the powerset of a list and then calculate the sum of elements for each subset.

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