#!/usr/bin/python2 def variant_1(tups, front): for tup in tups: if tup[0] == front: print tup def variant_2(tups, front): lookup = {tup[0]: tup for tup in tups} try: print lookup[front] except KeyError: pass def variant_3(tups, front): filtered = [tup for tup in tups if tup[0] == front] print filtered def main(): tups = [((1, 2), 'word1', 1), ((2, 2), 'word2', 2), ((3, 2), 'word3', 3)] front = (3, 2) for variant in (variant_1, variant_2, variant_3): variant(tups, front) if __name__ == '__main__': main()