DICTIONARIES

KEY-VALUE PAIR
What is Dictionary
 It is another collection in Python but with
different in way of storing and accessing.
Other collection like list, tuple, string are
having an index associated with every
element but Python Dictionary have a “key”
associated with every element. Thats why
python dictionaries are known as KEY:VALUE
pairs.

 Like with English dictionary we search any

word for meaning associated with it, similarly
in Python we search for “key” to get its
associated value rather than searching for an
index.
Creating a Dictionary
Syntax to create dictionary:
dictionary_name = {key1:value,key2:value,….}
Example
>>> emp = {"empno":1,"name":"Shahrukh","fee":1500000}
Here Keys are : “empno”, “name” and “fee”
Values are: 1, “Shahrukh”, 1500000
Note:
1) Dictionary elements must be between curly brackets
2) Each value must be paired with key element
3) Each key-value pair must be separated by comma(,)
Creating a dictionary
 Dict1 = {} # empty dictionary
 DaysInMonth={"Jan":31,"Feb":28,"Mar":31,"Apr":31
"May":31,"Jun":30,"Jul":31,"Aug":31
"Sep":30,"Oct":31,"Nov":30,"Dec":31}
Note: Keys of dictionary must of immutable type suchas:
- A python string

- A number

- A tuple(containing only immutable entries)

- If we try to give mutable type as key, python will give an error

- >>>dict2 = {[2,3]:”abc”} #Error

Accessing elements of Dictionary
 Toaccess Dictionary elements we need the “key”
>>>mydict={'empno':1,'name':'Shivam','dept':'sales','salary':25000}
>>> mydict['salary']
25000
Note: if you try to access “key” which is not in the dictionary, python
will raise an error
>>>mydict["comm‟] #Error
Traversing a Dictionary
 Python allows to apply “for” loop to traverse every
element of dictionary based on their “key”. For loop
will get every key of dictionary and we can access
every element based on their key.

mydict={'empno':1,'name':'Shivam','dept':'sales','salary':25000}
for key in mydict:
print(key,'=',mydict[key])
Accessing keys and valuessimultaneously
>>> mydict={'empno':1,'name':'Shivam','dept':'sales','salary':25000}
>>>mydict.keys()
dict_keys(['empno', 'name', 'dept', 'salary'])
>>>mydict.values()
dict_values([1, 'Shivam', 'sales', 25000])

Wecan convert the sequence returned by keys() and values() by using list()
as shown below:
>>> list(mydict.keys())
['empno', 'name', 'dept', 'salary']
>>> list(mydict.values())
[1, 'Shivam', 'sales', 25000]
Characteristics of a Dictionary
 Unordered set
Adictionary is a unordered set of key:value pair
 Not a sequence
Unlike a string, tuple, and list, a dictionary is not a sequence
because it is unordered set of elements. The sequences are
indexed by a range of ordinal numbers. Hence they are
ordered but a dictionary is an unordered collection
 Indexed by Keys,Not Numbers
Dictionaries are indexed by keys. Keys are immutable
type
Characteristics of a Dictionary
 Keys must be unique
Each key within dictionary must be unique. However two unique
keys can have samevalues.
>>> data={1:100, 2:200,3:300,4:200}
 Mutable
Like lists, dictionary are also mutable. We can change the value
of a certain “key” in place
Data[3]=400
>>>Data
So, to change value of dictionary the format is :
 DictionaryName[“key” / key]=new_value
You can not only change but you can add new key:value pair :
 Dictionaryname[“New Key”]=Value
Internally stored as Mappings
 Internally, the key:value pair are associated with
one another with some internal function(called hash
function). Thisway of linking is called mapping

KEY HASH FUNCTION STORED VALUES

KEY1 VALUE 3
KEY2 VALUE1
KEY3 VALUE4
KEY4 VALUE 2
Working with Dictionaries
 Multiple ways of creating dictionaries
1. Initializing a Dictionary : in this method all the key:value
pairs of dictionary are written collectively separated by
commas and enclosed in curly braces
Student={“roll”:1,”name”:”Scott”,”Per”:90}

2. Adding key:value pair to an empty Dictionary : in this

method we first create empty dictionary and then
key:value pair are added to it one pair at a time For
example
Alphabets={} #Empty dictionary
Or
Alphabets = dict()
Working with Dictionaries
 Multiple ways of creating dictionaries
Now we will add new pair to this empty dictionary one by one
as:
Alphabets = {}
Alphabets[“a”]=“apple”
Alphabets[“b”]=“boy”
3. Creating dictionary from name and value pairs: using the
dict() constructor of dictionary, you can also create dictionary
initialized from specified set of keys and values. There are
multiple ways to provide keys and value to dict()
(i) Specific key:value pairs as keyword argument to dict()
Student=dict(roll=1,name=“ scott‟,per=89)
 Working with Dictionaries

 Multiple ways of creating dictionaries

(ii) Specify comma-separated key:value pairs student
= dict({“ roll‟:1,‟name‟:‟scott‟,‟per‟:89})
(iii)Specify keys separately and corresponding values
separately: in this method keys and values are enclosed
separately in parenthesis and are given as arguments to the zip()
inside dict()
Emp = dict(zip((“mpno‟,‟name‟,‟dept‟),(1,‟Scott‟,‟HR‟)))
 Working with Dictionaries

 Multiple ways of creating dictionaries

(iv) Specify key:value pairs separately in form of
sequences : in this method one list of tuple argument is
passed to dict(). These list or tuple contains individual
key:value pair
Example:

Emp = dict([“ name‟,‟Victor‟],[“ dept‟,‟sales‟])

Or
Emp = dict(((“ name‟,‟john‟),(„dept‟,‟it‟),(„sal‟,1200)))
Adding elements to Dictionary
 Youcan add new element to dictionary as:
dictionaryName[“key”] = value
 Nesting Dictionaries : you can add dictionary as
value inside a dictionary. This type of dictionary
knownasnested dictionary. Forexample:
Visitor =
{
"Name‟:‟Scott‟,‟Address‟:{"hno‟:‟11A/B‟,‟City‟:‟Kan
pur‟,‟PinCode‟:‟208004‟},
"Name‟:‟Peter‟,‟Address‟:{"hno‟:‟11B/A‟,‟City‟:‟Kan
pur‟,‟ PinCode‟:‟208004‟}
}
Adding elements to Dictionary
 Toprint elements of nested dictionary is as :
>>> Visitor =
{'Name':'Scott','Address':{'hno':'11A/B','City':'Kanpur','PinCode'
:'208004'}}
>>> Visitor
{'Name': 'Scott', 'Address': {'hno': '11A/B', 'City': 'Kanpur', 'PinCode':
'2080
04'}}
>>> Visitor['Name']
'Scott'
>>> Visitor['Address']['City'] # to access nested elements
'Kanpur'
Updating elements in Dictionary
 Dictionaryname[“key”]=value
>>> data={1:100, 2:200,3:300,4:200}
>>> data[3]=1500
>>> data[3] # 1500
Deleting elements from Dictionary
del dictionaryName[“Key”]
>>> D1 = {1:10,2:20,3:30,4:40}
>>> del D1[2]
>>> D1
1:10,3:30,4:40
• If you try to remove the item whose key does not
exists, the python runtime error occurs.
• Del D1[5] #Error
pop() elements from Dictionary
dictionaryName.pop([“Key”])
>>> D1 = {1:10,2:20,3:30,4:40}
>>> D1.pop(2)
>>>1:10,3:30,4:40
Note: if key passed to pop() doesn‟t exists then python
will raise an exception.
Pop() function allows us to customized the error
message displayed by use of wrong key
pop() elements from Dictionary
>>> d1
{'a': 'apple', 'b': 'ball', 'c': 'caterpillar', 'd': 'dog'}
>>>d1.pop("a‟)
>>> d1.pop("d",‟Not found‟) Not
found
Checking the existence of key
 We can check the existence of key in dictionary
using “in” and “not in”.
>>>alpha={"a":"apple","b":"boy","c":"cat","d":"dog"}
>>> 'a' in alpha
True
>>>‟e‟ in alpha
False
>>>‟e‟ not in alpha
True
Checking the existence of key
 If you pass “value” of dictionary to search using “in”
it will return False
>>>‟apple‟ in alpha
False
Tosearch for a value we have to search in
dict.values()
>>>‟apple‟ in alpha.values()
Pretty printing a Dictionary
 We generally use print() to print the dictionary in
python. For e.g.
>>>alpha={"a":"apple","b":"boy","c":"cat","d":"dog"}
>>>print(alpha)
{'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
Toprint dictionary in more readable form we use json
module. i.e. import json and then call the function
dumps()
Pretty printing a Dictionary
>>>alpha={"a":"apple","b":"boy","c":"cat","d":"dog"}
>>>import json
>>> print(json.dumps(alpha,indent=2))
{
"a": "apple",
"c": "cat",
"b": "boy",
"d": "dog"
}
Counting frequency of elements in a list using dictionary

 Create an empty dictionary

 Take up element from list “listname”
 Check if this element exists as a key in the
dictionary:
If not then add {key:value} to dictionary in the form
{list-element:count of list element}

Before we move on to this topic let usunderstand the

function split()
split() function
 It is used to break up string into words and create a
list out of it.
>>> message ="india is mycountry"
>>> message.split()
['india', 'is', 'my', 'country']
>>> mylist = message.split()
>>> mylist
['india', 'is', 'my', 'country']
Note: by default it splits the message based on the spaces between the
words. However if the message to be break on any other delimeter we
have to passthat delimeter
split() function
>>> message="ravi,vikas,dinesh,suresh"
>>> mylist = message.split(',')
>>> mylist
['ravi', 'vikas',
'dinesh', 'suresh']
Program to count the frequency of list-
element using a dictionary
import json
sentence="Python learning is great fun \
Python is interpreted language"
words = sentence.split()
d={}
for one in words:
key = one
if key not in d:
count = words.count(key)
d[key]=count
print("Counting frequencies in list\n",words)
print(json.dumps(d,indent=1))
Dictionary functions and methods
len() : it return the length of dictionary i.e. the count
of elements (key:value pairs) in dictionary
>>>alpha = {'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
>>> len(alpha)
4
clear() : this method removes all items from dictionary
and dictionary becomes empty dictionary
>>>alpha.clear()
>>>alpha # {}
Dictionary functions and methods
However if you use “del” to delete dictionary it will
remove dictionary from memory
>>>alpha = {'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
>>>del alpha
>>>alpha #Error “ alpha“ is not defined
get() : this method is used value of given key, if key
not found it raises an exception
>>>alpha.get(“ b‟) # boy
>>>alpha.get(“ z‟) #Error, nothing will print
Dictionary functions and methods
>>>alpha.get(“ z‟,‟not found‟)
Not found
items() : this method returns all the items in the
dictionary sa sequence of (key,value)tuple
>>>alpha = {'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
>>> mytuple = alpha.items()
>>>for item in mytuple:
print(item)
Dictionary functions and methods
>>>alpha = {'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
>>> mytuple = alpha.items()
>>>for key,value in mytuple:
print(key,value)
keys() : this method return all the keys in
the dictionary as a sequence of keys(not in list
form)
>>> alpha.keys()
dict_keys(['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])
Dictionary functions and methods
>>>alpha = {'a': 'apple', 'b': 'boy', 'c': 'cat', 'd': 'dog'}
values() : this method return all the values in
the dictionary as a sequence of keys(a list
form)
>>> alpha.values()
dict_values(['apple', 'boy', 'cat', 'dog'])

Update() method : this method merges the key:value

pari from the new dictionary into original dictionary,
adding or replacing as needed. The items in the new
dictionary are added to the old one and override
items already with same keys.
Example of update
>>> d1={1:100,2:200,3:300,4:400}
>>> d2={1:111,2:222,5:555,4:444}
>>> d1.update(d2)
>>> d1
{1: 111, 2: 222, 3: 300, 4: 444, 5: 555}
>>>d2
{1: 111, 2: 222, 5: 555, 4: 444}
It is equivalent to:
for key in d2.keys():
d1[key] = d2[key]
Dictionary functions and methods
fromkeys() : return new dictionary with the given set of elements
as the keys of thedictionary.
Default value is None

Given value is
assigned to each key

List is assigned to
each key, as the list
updated dictionary
key values are
automatically
updated
Dictionary functions and methods
copy() : as the name suggest, it will create a copy of dictionary.

Popitem() : it will remove the last dictionary item are

return key,value.

max() : this function return highest value in dictionary, this will

work only if all the values in dictionary is of numeric type
Dictionary functions and methods
min() : this function return highest value in dictionary, this will
work only if all the values in dictionary is of numeric type.

sorted() : this function is used to sort the key or value of dictionary

in either ascending or descending order. By default it will sort the
keys.
Sorting the keys
Dictionary functions and methods

Sorting values in ascending Sorting values in descending

Program to count how many times
characters appear in dictionary
Program to create dictionary for storing employee
names and salary and access them
Program to create dictionary for storing employee
names and salary and access them
Program to create dictionary for storing employee
names and salary and access them