Getting the member of a singleton set

[Arnaud Delobelle]

Hi all,

I often find myself needing to get (non-destructively) the value of
the member of a singleton set.  Is there a good way to do this (as an
expression?)  None of the ones I can think of satisfy me, eg:

* list(myset)[0]
* iter(myset).next()
* set(myset).pop()

What I would like is something like a 'peek()' function or method
(would return the same as pop() but wouldn't pop anything).  I would
like to know of a better idiom if it exists.  If not, isn't there a
need for one?

Note: it is comparatively easier to do this destructively:
    myset.pop()
or to bind a name to the member:
    element, = myset

PS: this problem is not restricted to sets but could occur with many
'container' types.

--
Arnaud