Python Dictionary
Dictionary in Python is a collection of keys values, used to store
data values like a map, which, unlike other data types which hold
only a single value as an element.
Example of Dictionary in Python
Dictionary holds key:value pair.
Key-Value is provided in the dictionary to make it more optimized.
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
print(Dict)
Output:
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
Creating a Dictionary
In Python, a dictionary can be created by placing a sequence of
elements within curly {} braces, separated by ‘comma’.
Dictionary holds pairs of values, one being the Key and the other
corresponding pair element being its Key:value. Values in a
dictionary can be of any data type and can be duplicated, whereas
keys can’t be repeated and must be immutable.
Note – Dictionary keys are case sensitive, the same name but
different cases of Key will be treated distinctly.
# Creating a Dictionary
# with Integer Keys
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
print("\nDictionary with the use of Integer Keys: ")
print(Dict)
# Creating a Dictionary
# with Mixed keys
Dict = {'Name': 'Geeks', 1: [1, 2, 3, 4]}
print("\nDictionary with the use of Mixed Keys: ")
print(Dict)
Output:
Dictionary with the use of Integer Keys:
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
Dictionary with the use of Mixed Keys:
{'Name': 'Geeks', 1: [1, 2, 3, 4]}
Dictionary can also be created by the built-in function dict(). An
empty dictionary can be created by just placing to curly braces{}.
# Creating an empty Dictionary
Dict = {}
print("Empty Dictionary: ")
print(Dict)
# Creating a Dictionary
# with dict() method
Dict = dict({1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'})
print("\nDictionary with the use of dict(): ")
print(Dict)
# Creating a Dictionary
# with each item as a Pair
Dict = dict([(1, 'Geeks'), (2, 'For')])
print("\nDictionary with each item as a pair: ")
print(Dict)
Output:
Empty Dictionary:
{}
Dictionary with the use of dict():
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
Dictionary with each item as a pair:
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For'}
Nested Dictionary
Python3
# Creating a Nested Dictionary
# as shown in the below image
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For',
3: {'A': 'Welcome', 'B': 'To', 'C': 'Geeks'}}
print(Dict)
Output:
{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: {'A': 'Welcome', 'B': 'To', 'C':
'Geeks'}}
Adding elements to a Dictionary
Addition of elements can be done in multiple ways. One value at a
time can be added to a Dictionary by defining value along with the
key e.g. Dict[Key] = ‘Value’. Updating an existing value in a
Dictionary can be done by using the built-in update () method.
Nested key values can also be added to an existing Dictionary.
Note- While adding a value, if the key-value already exists, the
value gets updated otherwise a new Key with the value is added to
the Dictionary.
# Creating an empty Dictionary
Dict = {}
print("Empty Dictionary: ")
print(Dict)
# Adding elements one at a time
Dict[0] = 'Geeks'
Dict[2] = 'For'
Dict[3] = 1
print("\nDictionary after adding 3 elements: ")
print(Dict)
# Adding set of values
# to a single Key
Dict['Value_set'] = 2, 3, 4
print("\nDictionary after adding 3 elements: ")
print(Dict)
# Updating existing Key's Value
Dict[2] = 'Welcome'
print("\nUpdated key value: ")
print(Dict)
# Adding Nested Key value to Dictionary
Dict[5] = {'Nested': {'1': 'Life', '2': 'Geeks'}}
print("\nAdding a Nested Key: ")
print(Dict)
Output:
Empty Dictionary:
{}
Dictionary after adding 3 elements:
{0: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 1}
Dictionary after adding 3 elements:
{0: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 1, 'Value_set': (2, 3, 4)}
Updated key value:
{0: 'Geeks', 2: 'Welcome', 3: 1, 'Value_set': (2, 3, 4)}
Adding a Nested Key:
{0: 'Geeks', 2: 'Welcome', 3: 1, 'Value_set': (2, 3, 4), 5:
{'Nested': {'1': 'Life', '2': 'Geeks'}}}
Accessing elements of a Dictionary
In order to access the items of a dictionary refer to its key name.
Key can be used inside square brackets.
# Python program to demonstrate
# accessing a element from a Dictionary
# Creating a Dictionary
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 'name': 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
# accessing a element using key
print("Accessing a element using key:")
print(Dict['name'])
# accessing a element using key
print("Accessing a element using key:")
print(Dict[1])
Output:
Accessing a element using key:
For
Accessing a element using key:
Geeks
There is also a method called get() that will also help in accessing
the element from a dictionary. This method accepts key as
argument and returns the value.
# Creating a Dictionary
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 'name': 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
# accessing a element using get()
# method
print("Accessing a element using get:")
print(Dict.get(3))
Output:
Accessing a element using get:
Geeks
Accessing an element of a nested dictionary
In order to access the value of any key in the nested dictionary, use
indexing [] syntax.
# Creating a Dictionary
Dict = {'Dict1': {1: 'Geeks'},
'Dict2': {'Name': 'For'}}
# Accessing element using key
print(Dict['Dict1'])
print(Dict['Dict1'][1])
print(Dict['Dict2']['Name'])
Output:
{1: 'Geeks'}
Geeks
For
Deleting Elements using del Keyword
The items of the dictionary can be deleted by using the del keyword
as given below.
Python3
# Python program to demonstrate
# Deleting Elements using del Keyword
# Creating a Dictionary
Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 'name': 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
print("Dictionary =")
print(Dict)
#Deleting some of the Dictionar data
del(Dict[1])
print("Data after deletion Dictionary=")
print(Dict)
Output
Dictionary ={1: 'Geeks', 'name': 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
Data after deletion Dictionary={'name': 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
Dictionary methods
Method Description
dic.clear() Remove all the elements from the dictionary
dict.copy() Returns a copy of the dictionary
dict.get(key, default = “None”) Returns the value of specified key
Returns a list containing a tuple for each key
dict.items()
value pair
dict.keys() Returns a list containing dictionary’s keys
dict.update(dict2) Updates dictionary with specified key-value pairs
dict.values() Returns a list of all the values of dictionary
pop() Remove the element with specified key
popItem() Removes the last inserted key-value pair
dict.setdefault(key,default= set the key to the default value if the key is not
“None”) specified in the dictionary
returns true if the dictionary contains the specified
dict.has_key(key)
key.
dict.get(key, default = “None”) used to get the value specified for the passed key.
# demo for all dictionary methods
dict1 = {1: "Python", 2: "Java", 3: "Ruby", 4: "Scala"}
# copy() method
dict2 = dict1.copy()
print(dict2)
# clear() method
dict1.clear()
print(dict1)
# get() method
print(dict2.get(1))
# items() method
print(dict2.items())
# keys() method
print(dict2.keys())
# pop() method
dict2.pop(4)
print(dict2)
# popitem() method
dict2.popitem()
print(dict2)
# update() method
dict2.update({3: "Scala"})
print(dict2)
# values() method
print(dict2.values())
Output:
{1: 'Python', 2: 'Java', 3: 'Ruby', 4: 'Scala'}
{}
Python
dict_items([(1, 'Python'), (2, 'Java'), (3, 'Ruby'), (4,
'Scala')])
dict_keys([1, 2, 3, 4])
{1: 'Python', 2: 'Java', 3: 'Ruby'}
{1: 'Python', 2: 'Java'}
{1: 'Python', 2: 'Java', 3: 'Scala'}
dict_values(['Python', 'Java', 'Scala'])
