Skip to main content

How to select examples by length

This example selector selects which examples to use based on length. This is useful when you are worried about constructing a prompt that will go over the length of the context window. For longer inputs, it will select fewer examples to include, while for shorter inputs it will select more.

from langchain_core.example_selectors import LengthBasedExampleSelector
from langchain_core.prompts import FewShotPromptTemplate, PromptTemplate

# Examples of a pretend task of creating antonyms.
examples = [
{"input": "happy", "output": "sad"},
{"input": "tall", "output": "short"},
{"input": "energetic", "output": "lethargic"},
{"input": "sunny", "output": "gloomy"},
{"input": "windy", "output": "calm"},
]

example_prompt = PromptTemplate(
input_variables=["input", "output"],
template="Input: {input}\nOutput: {output}",
)
example_selector = LengthBasedExampleSelector(
# The examples it has available to choose from.
examples=examples,
# The PromptTemplate being used to format the examples.
example_prompt=example_prompt,
# The maximum length that the formatted examples should be.
# Length is measured by the get_text_length function below.
max_length=25,
# The function used to get the length of a string, which is used
# to determine which examples to include. It is commented out because
# it is provided as a default value if none is specified.
# get_text_length: Callable[[str], int] = lambda x: len(re.split("\n| ", x))
)
dynamic_prompt = FewShotPromptTemplate(
# We provide an ExampleSelector instead of examples.
example_selector=example_selector,
example_prompt=example_prompt,
prefix="Give the antonym of every input",
suffix="Input: {adjective}\nOutput:",
input_variables=["adjective"],
)
# An example with small input, so it selects all examples.
print(dynamic_prompt.format(adjective="big"))
Give the antonym of every input

Input: happy
Output: sad

Input: tall
Output: short

Input: energetic
Output: lethargic

Input: sunny
Output: gloomy

Input: windy
Output: calm

Input: big
Output:
# An example with long input, so it selects only one example.
long_string = "big and huge and massive and large and gigantic and tall and much much much much much bigger than everything else"
print(dynamic_prompt.format(adjective=long_string))
Give the antonym of every input

Input: happy
Output: sad

Input: big and huge and massive and large and gigantic and tall and much much much much much bigger than everything else
Output:
# You can add an example to an example selector as well.
new_example = {"input": "big", "output": "small"}
dynamic_prompt.example_selector.add_example(new_example)
print(dynamic_prompt.format(adjective="enthusiastic"))
Give the antonym of every input

Input: happy
Output: sad

Input: tall
Output: short

Input: energetic
Output: lethargic

Input: sunny
Output: gloomy

Input: windy
Output: calm

Input: big
Output: small

Input: enthusiastic
Output:

Was this page helpful?


You can also leave detailed feedback on GitHub.