Dictionaries¶

Collections of key-value pairs.

In [1]:
my_empty_dict = {} # alternative: my_empty_dict = dict() print(f"dict: {my_empty_dict}, type: {type(my_empty_dict)}") 
dict: {}, type: <class 'dict'>

Initialization¶

In [2]:
dict1 = {"value1": 1.6, "value2": 10, "name": "John Doe"} dict2 = dict(value1=1.6, value2=10, name="John Doe") print(dict1) print(dict2) print(f"equals: {dict1 == dict2}") print(f"length: {len(dict1)}") 
{'value1': 1.6, 'value2': 10, 'name': 'John Doe'} {'value1': 1.6, 'value2': 10, 'name': 'John Doe'} equals: True length: 3

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

In [3]:
print(f"keys: {dict1.keys()}") print(f"values: {dict1.values()}") print(f"items: {dict1.items()}") 
keys: dict_keys(['value1', 'value2', 'name']) values: dict_values([1.6, 10, 'John Doe']) items: dict_items([('value1', 1.6), ('value2', 10), ('name', 'John Doe')])

Accessing and setting values¶

In [4]:
my_dict = {} my_dict["key1"] = "value1" my_dict["key2"] = 99 my_dict["key1"] = "new value" # overriding existing value print(my_dict) print(f"value of key1: {my_dict['key1']}") 
{'key1': 'new value', 'key2': 99} value of key1: new value

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

In [5]:
# print(my_dict['nope'])

Deleting¶

In [6]:
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(f"{key_to_delete} is not in {my_dict}") 
{'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 99} my_key is not in {'key1': 'value1', 'key2': 99}

Dictionaries are mutable¶

In [7]:
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(f"{my_dict=}\nother: {my_other_dict}") print(f"equals: {my_dict == my_other_dict}") 
my_dict={'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'super tasty', 'sausage': 'best ever'} other: {'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'super tasty', 'sausage': 'best ever'} equals: True

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

In [8]:
my_dict = {"ham": "good", "carrot": "semi good"} my_other_dict = dict(my_dict) my_other_dict["beer"] = "decent" print(f"{my_dict=}\nother: {my_other_dict}") print(f"equals: {my_dict == my_other_dict}") 
my_dict={'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'semi good'} other: {'ham': 'good', 'carrot': 'semi good', 'beer': 'decent'} equals: 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.

In [9]:
my_dict = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3} value_of_d = my_dict.get("d") print(f"d: {value_of_d}") value_of_d = my_dict.get("d", "my default value") print(f"d: {value_of_d}") 
d: None d: my default value

dict.pop()¶

In [10]:
my_dict = dict(food="ham", drink="beer", sport="football") print(f"dict before pops: {my_dict}") food = my_dict.pop("food") print(f"food: {food}") print(f"dict after popping food: {my_dict}") food_again = my_dict.pop("food", "default value for food") print(f"food again: {food_again}") print(f"dict after popping food again: {my_dict}") 
dict before pops: {'food': 'ham', 'drink': 'beer', 'sport': 'football'} food: ham dict after popping food: {'drink': 'beer', 'sport': 'football'} food again: default value for food dict after popping food again: {'drink': 'beer', 'sport': 'football'}

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).

In [11]:
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(f"a: {a}\nd: {d}\nmy_dict: {my_dict}") 
a: 1 d: my default value my_dict: {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3, 'd': 'my default value'}

dict.update()¶

Merge two dicts

In [12]:
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, 'b': 2, 'c': 3} {'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 4}

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 :

In [13]:
# bad_dict = {['my_list'], 'value'} # Raises TypeError

Values can be mutable

In [14]:
good_dict = {"my key": ["Python", "is", "still", "cool"]} print(good_dict) 
{'my key': ['Python', 'is', 'still', 'cool']}