Dictionaries

Collections of key-value pairs.

my_empty_dict = {}  # alternative: my_empty_dict = dict()
print('dict: {}, type: {}'.format(my_empty_dict, type(my_empty_dict)))

dict: {}, type: <class 'dict'>

Initialization

dict1 = {'value1': 1.6, 'value2': 10, 'name': 'John Doe'}
dict2 = dict(value1=1.6, value2=10, name='John Doe')

print(dict1)
print(dict2)

print('equal: {}'.format(dict1 == dict2))
print('length: {}'.format(len(dict1)))

{'value1': 1.6, 'name': 'John Doe', 'value2': 10}
{'value2': 10, 'name': 'John Doe', 'value1': 1.6}
equal: True
length: 3

dict.keys(), dict.values(), dict.items()

print('keys: {}'.format(dict1.keys()))
print('values: {}'.format(dict1.values()))
print('items: {}'.format(dict1.items()))

keys: dict_keys(['value1', 'name', 'value2'])
values: dict_values([1.6, 'John Doe', 10])
items: dict_items([('value1', 1.6), ('name', 'John Doe'), ('value2', 10)])

Accessing and setting values

my_dict = {}
my_dict['key1'] = 'value1'
my_dict['key2'] = 99
my_dict['key1'] = 'new value'  # overriding existing value
print(my_dict)
print('value of key1: {}'.format(my_dict['key1']))

{'key2': 99, 'key1': 'new value'}
value of key1: new value

Accessing a nonexistent key will raise KeyError (see dict.get() for workaround):

# print(my_dict['nope'])

Deleting

my_dict = {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 99, 'keyX': 'valueX'}
del my_dict['keyX']
print(my_dict)

# Usually better to make sure that the key exists (see also pop() and popitem())
key_to_delete = 'my_key'
if key_to_delete in my_dict:
    del my_dict[key_to_delete]
else:
    print('{key} is not in {dictionary}'.format(key=key_to_delete, dictionary=my_dict))

{'key2': 99, 'key1': 'value1'}
my_key is not in {'key2': 99, 'key1': 'value1'}

Dictionaries are mutable

my_dict = {'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'semi good'}
my_other_dict = my_dict
my_other_dict['carrot'] = 'super tasty'
my_other_dict['sausage'] = 'best ever'
print('my_dict: {}\nother: {}'.format(my_dict, my_other_dict))
print('equal: {}'.format(my_dict == my_other_dict))

my_dict: {'carrot': 'super tasty', 'ham': 'good', 'sausage': 'best ever'}
other: {'carrot': 'super tasty', 'ham': 'good', 'sausage': 'best ever'}
equal: True

Create a new dict if you want to have a copy:

my_dict = {'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'semi good'}
my_other_dict = dict(my_dict)
my_other_dict['beer'] = 'decent'
print('my_dict: {}\nother: {}'.format(my_dict, my_other_dict))
print('equal: {}'.format(my_dict == my_other_dict))

my_dict: {'carrot': 'semi good', 'ham': 'good'}
other: {'beer': 'decent', 'carrot': 'semi good', 'ham': 'good'}
equal: False

dict.get()

Returns None if key is not in dict. However, you can also specify default return value which will be returned if key is not present in the dict.

my_dict = {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3}
d = my_dict.get('d')
print('d: {}'.format(d))

d = my_dict.get('d', 'my default value')
print('d: {}'.format(d))

d: None
d: my default value

dict.pop()

my_dict = dict(food='ham', drink='beer', sport='football')
print('dict before pops: {}'.format(my_dict))

food = my_dict.pop('food')
print('food: {}'.format(food))
print('dict after popping food: {}'.format(my_dict))

food_again = my_dict.pop('food', 'default value for food')
print('food again: {}'.format(food_again))
print('dict after popping food again: {}'.format(my_dict))

dict before pops: {'sport': 'football', 'drink': 'beer', 'food': 'ham'}
food: ham
dict after popping food: {'sport': 'football', 'drink': 'beer'}
food again: default value for food
dict after popping food again: {'sport': 'football', 'drink': 'beer'}

dict.setdefault()

Returns the value of key defined as first parameter. If the key is not present in the dict, adds key with default value (second parameter).

my_dict = {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3}
a = my_dict.setdefault('a', 'my default value')
d = my_dict.setdefault('d', 'my default value')
print('a: {}\nd: {}\nmy_dict: {}'.format(a, d, my_dict))

a: 1
d: my default value
my_dict: {'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': 2, 'd': 'my default value'}

dict.update()

Merge two dicts

dict1 = {'a': 1, 'b': 2}
dict2 = {'c': 3}
dict1.update(dict2)
print(dict1)

# If they have same keys:
dict1.update({'c': 4})
print(dict1)

{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': 2}
{'a': 1, 'c': 4, 'b': 2}

The keys of a dict have to be immutable

Thus you can not use e.g. a list or a dict as key because they are mutable types :

# bad_dict = {['my_list'], 'value'}  # Raises TypeError

Values can be mutable

good_dict = {'my key': ['Python', 'is', 'still', 'cool']}
print(good_dict)

{'my key': ['Python', 'is', 'still', 'cool']}