Important Dictionary Methods in Python
1. Adding & Updating Items
- dict[key] = value: Adds or updates a key-value pair.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice"}
my_dict["age"] = 25 # Adds new key-value pair
my_dict["name"] = "Bob" # Updates existing key
2. Removing Items
- pop(key): Removes key and returns its value. Raises KeyError if key doesn't exist.
- popitem(): Removes and returns the last inserted key-value pair (LIFO order in Python 3.7+).
- clear(): Removes all key-value pairs.
- del dict[key]: Deletes key-value pair. Raises KeyError if key doesn't exist.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}
my_dict.pop("age") # Returns 25
my_dict.clear() # Empties the dictionary
3. Accessing Items
- get(key, default): Returns value for the key; returns default if key isn't found.
- keys(): Returns a view of all keys.
- values(): Returns a view of all values.
- items(): Returns a view of all key-value pairs.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}
print(my_dict.get("name")) # Alice
print(my_dict.get("address", "Not Found")) # Not Found
4. Checking Keys
- in: Checks if a key exists in the dictionary.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice"}
print("name" in my_dict) # True
5. Copying a Dictionary
- copy(): Returns a shallow copy of the dictionary.
Example:
original = {"name": "Alice"}
copy_dict = original.copy()
6. Merging Dictionaries
- update(other_dict): Adds key-value pairs from another dictionary, updating existing keys.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice"}
my_dict.update({"age": 25, "city": "NYC"})
7. Default Value Setting
- setdefault(key, default): Returns the value of the key if it exists, otherwise sets it to default and
returns it.
Example:
my_dict = {"name": "Alice"}
my_dict.setdefault("age", 25) # Sets "age" to 25
8. From Keys
- fromkeys(iterable, value): Creates a new dictionary from a list of keys with a specified value.
Example:
keys = ["name", "age", "city"]
new_dict = dict.fromkeys(keys, "Unknown")
9. Dictionary Comprehension
- Efficiently create dictionaries using loops.
Example:
squares = {x: x * x for x in range(1, 6)}