l = [1, 2, 3, 4] s = set(l) outs = [s.difference(), s.difference({1}), s.difference({1}, [1, 2]), s.difference({1}, {1, 2}, {2, 3})] for out in outs: print(sorted(out)) s = set(l) print(s.difference_update()) print(sorted(s)) print(s.difference_update({1})) print(sorted(s)) print(s.difference_update({1}, [2])) print(sorted(s)) s.difference_update(s) print(s)