How to Solve Python ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

Python raises ValueError when a function receives an argument with a correct type but an invalid value. Python valueerror: too many values to unpack (expected 3) means the number of variables does not match the number of values you want to unpack.

You can solve the error by ensuring the number of variables matches the number of values you want to unpack. For example,

a, b, c, d = [1, 2, 3, 4]

print(a)
print(b)
print(c)
print(d)

In this tutorial, we will go through what unpacking is, examples of the error and how to solve it.

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Python ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

Python functions can return more than one variable. We store these returned values in variables and raise the valueerror when there are not enough objects returned to assign to the variables.

What is Unpacking?

Unpacking refers to assigning individual elements of an iterable to multiple variables simultaneously.

Let’s look at an example of unpacking a list:

# Unpacking a list and assign to three variables

d, e, f = [4, 5, 6]

print(d)

print(e)

print(f)


4

5

6

Example #1: Unpacking a List

If the number of variables does not match the values we want to unpack, and the Python interpreter will raise a ValueError. For example,

# Trying to assign four values to three variables

a, b, c = [1, 2, 3, 4]

print(a)
print(b)
print(c)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Input In [3], in <cell line: 3>()
      1 # Trying to assign three values to two variables
----> 3 a, b, c = [1, 2, 3, 4]
      5 print(a)
      6 print(b)

ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

The Python interpreter expects three values to assign to the variables a, b, and c but instead has four values.

Solution

To solve this error, we need to ensure the number of variables matches the number of items in the iterable we want to unpack. Let’s look at the revised code:

a, b, c, d = [1, 2, 3, 4]

print(a)
print(b)
print(c)
print(d)

Let’s run the code to see the result:

1
2
3
4

We successfully unpacked the list and printed to values to the console.

Example #2: Unpacking a String

This error can also occur when trying to unpack substring values from a string. Let’s look at an example of getting three shape names from a single string.

sq, tri, dia = 'square.triangle.diamond'
print(sq)
print(tri)
print(dia)

Let’s run the code to see what happens.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Input In [5], in <cell line: 1>()
----> 1 sq, tri, dia = 'square.triangle.diamond'
      2 print(sq)
      3 print(tri)

ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

The error occurs because there are three variables and twenty-three values. When unpacking a string, Python unpacks each character.

Solution

We can solve this error by splitting the string using the full-stop separator to get three strings. We can then assign the three strings to the three variable names.

Let’s look at the revised code:

sq, tri, dia = 'square.triangle.diamond'.split(".")
print(sq)
print(tri)
print(dia)

Let’s run the code to get the result:

square
triangle
diamond

Example #3: Unpacking a String v2

If we want to unpack the single characters in a string, we need to have the same number of variables as there are characters. Otherwise, we will raise the ValueError:

string = 'defg'

d, e, f = string

print(d)
print(e)
print(f)

Let’s run the code to see what happens:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Input In [8], in <cell line: 3>()
      1 string = 'defg'
----> 3 d, e, f = string
      5 print(d)
      6 print(e)

ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

The error occurs because there are four characters to unpack in the string and only three variables.

Solution

We can solve the error by ensuring there is the same number of variables as there are values to unpack. In this case, we need four variables. Let’s look at the revised code:

string = 'defg'

d, e, f, g = string

print(d)
print(e)
print(f)
print(g)

Let’s run the code to get the result:

d
e
f
g

We successfully unpacked the characters and printed them to the console.

Example #4: Function returning iterable

We can also encounter this error when we try to unpack the items from the object returned by a function call. Let’s look at an example of a function that returns a tuple containing the surnames of four famous physicists.

def return_tup():

    return('Feynman', 'Dirac', 'Boltzmann', 'Curie')

fey, di, bol = return_tup()

print(fey)

print(di)

print(bol)

Let’s run the code to see what happens:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Input In [14], in <cell line: 4>()
      1 def return_tup():
      2     return('Feynman', 'Dirac', 'Boltzmann', 'Curie')
----> 4 fey, di, bol = return_tup()
      5 print(fey)
      6 print(di)

ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 3)

The error occurs because the function returns a tuple containing four items, but we only have three variables.

Solution

We can solve this error by ensuring we have the correct number of variables to match the number of items in the tuple.

Let’s look at the revised code:

def return_tup():

    return('Feynman', 'Dirac', 'Boltzmann', 'Curie')

fey, di, bol, cur = return_tup()

print(fey)

print(di)

print(bol)

print(cur)

Let’s run the code to see the result.

Feynman
Dirac
Boltzmann
Curie

We successfully unpacked the tuple and printed the names to the console.

Summary

Congratulations on reading to the end of this tutorial!

For further reading on ValueErrors involving unpacking, go to the article: How to Solve Python ValueError: too many values to unpack (expected 2)

To learn more about Python for data science and machine learning, go to the online courses page on Python for free and easily accessible courses.

Have fun and happy researching!