Empty set literal?

No, there's no literal syntax for the empty set. You have to write set().

By all means, please use set() to create an empty set.

But, if you want to impress people, tell them that you can create an empty set using literals and * with Python >= 3.5 (see PEP 448) by doing:

>>> s = {*()}  # or {*{}} or {*[]}
>>> print(s)
set()

this is basically a more condensed way of doing {_ for _ in ()}, but, don't do this.

Just to extend the accepted answer:

From version 2.7 and 3.1 python has got set literal {} in form of usage {1,2,3}, but {} itself still used for empty dict.

Python 2.7 (first line is invalid in Python <2.7)

>>> {1,2,3}.__class__
<type 'set'>
>>> {}.__class__
<type 'dict'>

Python 3.x

>>> {1,2,3}.__class__
<class 'set'>
>>> {}.__class__
<class 'dict'>

More here: https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/2.7.html#other-language-changes

It depends on if you want the literal for a comparison, or for assignment.

If you want to make an existing set empty, you can use the .clear() metod, especially if you want to avoid creating a new object. If you want to do a comparison, use set() or check if the length is 0.

example:

#create a new set    
a=set([1,2,3,'foo','bar'])
#or, using a literal:
a={1,2,3,'foo','bar'}

#create an empty set
a=set()
#or, use the clear method
a.clear()

#comparison to a new blank set
if a==set():
    #do something

#length-checking comparison
if len(a)==0:
    #do something