Converting a list to a set changes element order

Question

Recently I noticed that when I am converting a list to set the order of elements is changed and is sorted by character.

Consider this examp

Answer 1

As denoted in other answers, sets are data structures (and mathematical concepts) that do not preserve the element order -

However, by using a combination of sets and dictionaries, it is possible that you can achieve wathever you want - try using these snippets:

# save the element order in a dict:
x_dict = dict(x,y for y, x in enumerate(my_list) )
x_set = set(my_list)
#perform desired set operations
...
#retrieve ordered list from the set:
new_list = [None] * len(new_set)
for element in new_set:
   new_list[x_dict[element]] = element