When we loop through the dictionary, the value associated with each per-
son would be a list of languages rather than a single language. Inside the
dictionary’s for loop, we use another for loop to run through the list of lan-
guages associated with each person:
favorite favorite_languages = {
_languages.py 'jen': ['python', 'rust'],
'sarah': ['c'],
'edward': ['rust', 'go'],
'phil': ['python', 'haskell'],
}
1 for name, languages in favorite_languages.items():
print(f"\n{name.title()}'s favorite languages are:")
2 for language in languages:
print(f"\t{language.title()}")
The value associated with each name in favorite_languages is now a
list. Note that some people have one favorite language and others have
multiple favorites. When we loop through the dictionary 1, we use the
variable name languages to hold each value from the dictionary, because we
know that each value will be a list. Inside the main dictionary loop, we use
another for loop 2 to run through each person’s list of favorite languages.
Now each person can list as many favorite languages as they like:
Jen's favorite languages are:
Python
Rust
Sarah's favorite languages are:
C
Edward's favorite languages are:
Rust
Go
Phil's favorite languages are:
Python
Haskell
To refine this program even further, you could include an if statement
at the beginning of the dictionary’s for loop to see whether each person has
more than one favorite language by examining the value of len(languages).
If a person has more than one favorite, the output would stay the same. If
the person has only one favorite language, you could change the wording to
reflect that. For example, you could say, “Sarah’s favorite language is C.”
NOTE You should not nest lists and dictionaries too deeply. If you’re nesting items much
deeper than what you see in the preceding examples, or if you’re working with someone
else’s code with significant levels of nesting, there’s most likely a simpler way to solve
the problem.
Dictionaries 109
