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python dictionary

The document provides an overview of Python dictionaries, detailing their characteristics such as being unordered, changeable, and indexed. It covers various operations including creating, accessing, modifying, looping through, checking for keys, and removing items from dictionaries, along with examples for each operation. Additionally, it explains how to copy dictionaries, create nested dictionaries, and use the dict() constructor.

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sachin sales abraham
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3 views

python dictionary

The document provides an overview of Python dictionaries, detailing their characteristics such as being unordered, changeable, and indexed. It covers various operations including creating, accessing, modifying, looping through, checking for keys, and removing items from dictionaries, along with examples for each operation. Additionally, it explains how to copy dictionaries, create nested dictionaries, and use the dict() constructor.

Uploaded by

sachin sales abraham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Python Dictionaries

Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection which is unordered, changeable and indexed. In
Python dictionaries are written with curly brackets, and they have keys
and values.

Example

Create and print a dictionary:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
print(thisdict)

Accessing Items
You can access the items of a dictionary by referring to its key name,
inside square brackets:

Example

Get the value of the "model" key:

x = thisdict["model"]
There is also a method called get() that will give you the same result:

Example

Get the value of the "model" key:

x = thisdict.get("model")

Change Values
You can change the value of a specific item by referring to its key name:

Example

Change the "year" to 2018:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
thisdict["year"] = 2018

Loop Through a Dictionary


You can loop through a dictionary by using a for loop.

When looping through a dictionary, the return value are the keys of the
dictionary, but there are methods to return the values as well.

Example
Print all key names in the dictionary, one by one:

for x in thisdict:
print(x)

Example

Print all values in the dictionary, one by one:

for x in thisdict:
print(thisdict[x])

Example

You can also use the values() method to return values of a dictionary:

for x in thisdict.values():
print(x)

Example

Loop through both keys and values, by using the items() method:

for x, y in thisdict.items():
print(x, y)

Check if Key Exists


To determine if a specified key is present in a dictionary use
the in keyword:
Example

Check if "model" is present in the dictionary:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
if "model" in thisdict:
print("Yes, 'model' is one of the keys in the thisdict
dictionary")

Dictionary Length
To determine how many items (key-value pairs) a dictionary has, use
the len() function.

Example

Print the number of items in the dictionary:

print(len(thisdict))

Adding Items
Adding an item to the dictionary is done by using a new index key and
assigning a value to it:

Example
thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
thisdict["color"] = "red"
print(thisdict)

Removing Items
There are several methods to remove items from a dictionary:

Example

The pop() method removes the item with the specified key name:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
thisdict.pop("model")
print(thisdict)

Example

The popitem() method removes the last inserted item (in versions before 3.7,
a random item is removed instead):

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
thisdict.popitem()
print(thisdict)
Example

The del keyword removes the item with the specified key name:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
del thisdict["model"]
print(thisdict)

Example

The del keyword can also delete the dictionary completely:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
del thisdict
print(thisdict) #this will cause an error because "thisdict" no
longer exists.

Example

The clear() method empties the dictionary:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
thisdict.clear()
print(thisdict)

Copy a Dictionary
You cannot copy a dictionary simply by typing dict2 = dict1,
because: dict2 will only be a reference to dict1, and changes made
in dict1 will automatically also be made in dict2.

There are ways to make a copy, one way is to use the built-in Dictionary
method copy().

Example

Make a copy of a dictionary with the copy() method:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
mydict = thisdict.copy()
print(mydict)

Another way to make a copy is to use the built-in function dict().

Example

Make a copy of a dictionary with the dict() function:

thisdict = {
"brand": "Ford",
"model": "Mustang",
"year": 1964
}
mydict = dict(thisdict)
print(mydict)

Nested Dictionaries
A dictionary can also contain many dictionaries, this is called nested
dictionaries.

Example

Create a dictionary that contain three dictionaries:

myfamily = {
"child1" : {
"name" : "Emil",
"year" : 2004
},
"child2" : {
"name" : "Tobias",
"year" : 2007
},
"child3" : {
"name" : "Linus",
"year" : 2011
}
}

Or, if you want to nest three dictionaries that already exists as


dictionaries:

Example

Create three dictionaries, then create one dictionary that will contain the other
three dictionaries:

child1 = {
"name" : "Emil",
"year" : 2004
}
child2 = {
"name" : "Tobias",
"year" : 2007
}
child3 = {
"name" : "Linus",
"year" : 2011
}

myfamily = {
"child1" : child1,
"child2" : child2,
"child3" : child3
}

The dict() Constructor


It is also possible to use the dict() constructor to make a new dictionary:

Example

thisdict = dict(brand="Ford", model="Mustang", year=1964)


# note that keywords are not string literals
# note the use of equals rather than colon for the assignment
print(thisdict)

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