一、Apriori算法背景
Apriori算法主要目的是发现数据间的关联规则，例如经典的购物篮分析：
其中有许多定义，诸如支持度、置信度、关联规则等等。
二、Apriori算法具体步骤
1、相关步骤：
- 连接步骤：频繁(k-1)项集Lk-1的自身连接产生候选k项集Ck
Apriori算法假定项集中的项按照字典序排序。如果Lk-1中某两个的元素（项集）itemset1和itemset2的前(k-2)个项是相同的，则称itemset1和itemset2是可连接的。所以itemset1与itemset2连接产生的结果项集是{itemset1[1], itemset1[2], …, itemset1[k-1], itemset2[k-1]}。连接步骤包含在下文代码中的create_Ck函数中。
- 剪枝策略：
由于存在先验性质：任何非频繁的(k-1)项集都不是频繁k项集的子集。因此，如果一个候选k项集Ck的(k-1)项子集不在Lk-1中，则该候选也不可能是频繁的，从而可以从Ck中删除，获得压缩后的Ck。下文代码中的is_apriori函数用于判断是否满足先验性质，create_Ck函数中包含剪枝步骤，即若不满足先验性质，剪枝。
- 删除策略：
基于压缩后的Ck，扫描所有事务，对Ck中的每个项进行计数，然后删除不满足最小支持度的项，从而获得频繁k项集。删除策略包含在下文代码中的generate_Lk_by_Ck函数中。
2、代码流程：
（1）每个项都是候选1项集的集合C1的成员。算法扫描所有的事务，获得每个项，生成C1（见下文代码中的create_C1函数）。然后对每个项进行计数。然后根据最小支持度从C1中删除不满足的项，从而获得频繁1项集L1。
（2）、对L1的自身连接生成的集合执行剪枝策略产生候选2项集的集合C2，然后，扫描所有事务，对C2中每个项进行计数。同样的，根据最小支持度从C2中删除不满足的项，从而获得频繁2项集L2。
（3）、对L2的自身连接生成的集合执行剪枝策略产生候选3项集的集合C3，然后，扫描所有事务，对C3每个项进行计数。同样的，根据最小支持度从C3中删除不满足的项，从而获得频繁3项集L3。
（4）、以此类推，对Lk-1的自身连接生成的集合执行剪枝策略产生候选k项集Ck，然后，扫描所有事务，对Ck中的每个项进行计数。然后根据最小支持度从Ck中删除不满足的项，从而获得频繁k项集。
3、运行结果展示：
（1）.频繁项集产生过程
（2）.代码运行结果（包括频繁项集和关联规则）
三、Python学习记录：
-
set()函数可以创造出一个不能包含重复元素的集合；而frozenset()返回一个冻结的集合，即不能再在集合中添加或删除任何元素；
-
A.issubset(B)：判断A是否是B的子集；
-
copy.copy(A)：仅拷贝对象本身，而不对其中的子对象进行拷贝，故对子对象进行修改也会随之修改；copy.deepcopy(A)：真正意义上的完全复制，包括子对象元素；
-
sort()函数可以对字典或者列表元素进行按字典排序。
四、附Python代码：
def load_data_set():
"""
Load a sample data set (From Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques, 3th Edition)
Returns:
A data set: A list of transactions. Each transaction contains several items.
"""
data_set = [['l1', 'l2', 'l5'], ['l2', 'l4'], ['l2', 'l3'],
['l1', 'l2', 'l4'], ['l1', 'l3'], ['l2', 'l3'],
['l1', 'l3'], ['l1', 'l2', 'l3', 'l5'], ['l1', 'l2', 'l3']]
return data_set
def create_C1(data_set):
"""
Create frequent candidate 1-itemset C1 by scaning data set.
Args:
data_set: A list of transactions. Each transaction contains several items.
Returns:
C1: A set which contains all frequent candidate 1-itemsets
"""
C1 = set()
for t in data_set:
for item in t:
item_set = frozenset([item])
C1.add(item_set)
return C1
def is_apriori(Ck_item, Lksub1):
"""
Judge whether a frequent candidate k-itemset satisfy Apriori property.
Args:
Ck_item: a frequent candidate k-itemset in Ck which contains all frequent
candidate k-itemsets.
Lksub1: Lk-1, a set which contains all frequent candidate (k-1)-itemsets.
Returns:
True: satisfying Apriori property.
False: Not satisfying Apriori property.
"""
for item in Ck_item:
sub_Ck = Ck_item - frozenset([item])
if sub_Ck not in Lksub1:
return False
return True
def create_Ck(Lksub1, k):
"""
Create Ck, a set which contains all all frequent candidate k-itemsets
by Lk-1's own connection operation.
Args:
Lksub1: Lk-1, a set which contains all frequent candidate (k-1)-itemsets.
k: the item number of a frequent itemset.
Return:
Ck: a set which contains all all frequent candidate k-itemsets.
"""
Ck = set()
len_Lksub1 = len(Lksub1)
list_Lksub1 = list(Lksub1)
for i in range(len_Lksub1):
for j in range(1, len_Lksub1):
l1 = list(list_Lksub1[i])
l2 = list(list_Lksub1[j])
l1.sort()
l2.sort()
if l1[0:k-2] == l2[0:k-2]:
Ck_item = list_Lksub1[i] | list_Lksub1[j]
# pruning
if is_apriori(Ck_item, Lksub1):
Ck.add(Ck_item)
return Ck
def generate_Lk_by_Ck(data_set, Ck, min_support, support_data):
"""
Generate Lk by executing a delete policy from Ck.
Args:
data_set: A list of transactions. Each transaction contains several items.
Ck: A set which contains all all frequent candidate k-itemsets.
min_support: The minimum support.
support_data: A dictionary. The key is frequent itemset and the value is support.
Returns:
Lk: A set which contains all all frequent k-itemsets.
"""
Lk = set()
item_count = {}
for t in data_set:
for item in Ck:
if item.issubset(t):
if item not in item_count:
item_count[item] = 1
else:
item_count[item] += 1
t_num = float(len(data_set))
for item in item_count:
if (item_count[item] / t_num) >= min_support:
Lk.add(item)
support_data[item] = item_count[item] / t_num
return Lk
def generate_L(data_set, k, min_support):
"""
Generate all frequent itemsets.
Args:
data_set: A list of transactions. Each transaction contains several items.
k: Maximum number of items for all frequent itemsets.
min_support: The minimum support.
Returns:
L: The list of Lk.
support_data: A dictionary. The key is frequent itemset and the value is support.
"""
support_data = {}
C1 = create_C1(data_set)
L1 = generate_Lk_by_Ck(data_set, C1, min_support, support_data)
Lksub1 = L1.copy()
L = []
L.append(Lksub1)
for i in range(2, k+1):
Ci = create_Ck(Lksub1, i)
Li = generate_Lk_by_Ck(data_set, Ci, min_support, support_data)
Lksub1 = Li.copy()
L.append(Lksub1)
return L, support_data
def generate_big_rules(L, support_data, min_conf):
"""
Generate big rules from frequent itemsets.
Args:
L: The list of Lk.
support_data: A dictionary. The key is frequent itemset and the value is support.
min_conf: Minimal confidence.
Returns:
big_rule_list: A list which contains all big rules. Each big rule is represented
as a 3-tuple.
"""
big_rule_list = []
sub_set_list = []
for i in range(0, len(L)):
for freq_set in L[i]:
for sub_set in sub_set_list:
if sub_set.issubset(freq_set):
conf = support_data[freq_set] / support_data[freq_set - sub_set]
big_rule = (freq_set - sub_set, sub_set, conf)
if conf >= min_conf and big_rule not in big_rule_list:
# print freq_set-sub_set, " => ", sub_set, "conf: ", conf
big_rule_list.append(big_rule)
sub_set_list.append(freq_set)
return big_rule_list
if __name__ == "__main__":
"""
Test
"""
data_set = load_data_set()
L, support_data = generate_L(data_set, k=3, min_support=0.2)
big_rules_list = generate_big_rules(L, support_data, min_conf=0.7)
for Lk in L:
print "="*50
print "frequent " + str(len(list(Lk)[0])) + "-itemsets\t\tsupport"
print "="*50
for freq_set in Lk:
print freq_set, support_data[freq_set]
print
print "Big Rules"
for item in big_rules_list:
print item[0], "=>", item[1], "conf: ", item[2]