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Python - Dictionary: Accessing Values in Dictionary

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Python - Dictionary: Accessing Values in Dictionary

Uploaded by

rash
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PYTHON - DICTIONARY

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/python_dictionary.htm Copyright © tutorialspoint.com

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Each key is separated from its value by a colon :, the items are separated by commas, and the whole thing is
enclosed in curly braces. An empty dictionary without any items is written with just two curly braces, like this: {}.

Keys are unique within a dictionary while values may not be. The values of a dictionary can be of any type, but the
keys must be of an immutable data type such as strings, numbers, or tuples.

Accessing Values in Dictionary


To access dictionary elements, you can use the familiar square brackets along with the key to obtain its value.
Following is a simple example −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Class': 'First'}


print "dict['Name']: ", dict['Name']
print "dict['Age']: ", dict['Age']

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

dict['Name']: Zara
dict['Age']: 7

If we attempt to access a data item with a key, which is not part of the dictionary, we get an error as follows −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Class': 'First'}


print "dict['Alice']: ", dict['Alice']

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

dict['Alice']:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test.py", line 4, in <module>
print "dict['Alice']: ", dict['Alice'];
KeyError: 'Alice'

Updating Dictionary
You can update a dictionary by adding a new entry or a key-value pair, modifying an existing entry, or deleting an
existing entry as shown below in the simple example −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Class': 'First'}


dict['Age'] = 8; # update existing entry
dict['School'] = "DPS School"; # Add new entry

print "dict['Age']: ", dict['Age']


print "dict['School']: ", dict['School']

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

dict['Age']: 8
dict['School']: DPS School

Delete Dictionary Elements


You can either remove individual dictionary elements or clear the entire contents of a dictionary. You can also
delete entire dictionary in a single operation.

To explicitly remove an entire dictionary, just use the del statement. Following is a simple example −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Class': 'First'}


del dict['Name']; # remove entry with key 'Name'
dict.clear(); # remove all entries in dict
del dict ; # delete entire dictionary

print "dict['Age']: ", dict['Age']


print "dict['School']: ", dict['School']

This produces the following result. Note that an exception is raised because after del dict dictionary does not
exist any more −

dict['Age']:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test.py", line 8, in <module>
print "dict['Age']: ", dict['Age'];
TypeError: 'type' object is unsubscriptable

Note − del method is discussed in subsequent section.

Properties of Dictionary Keys


Dictionary values have no restrictions. They can be any arbitrary Python object, either standard objects or user-
defined objects. However, same is not true for the keys.

There are two important points to remember about dictionary keys −

a More than one entry per key not allowed. Which means no duplicate key is allowed. When duplicate keys
encountered during assignment, the last assignment wins. For example −
Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Name': 'Manni'}


print "dict['Name']: ", dict['Name']

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

dict['Name']: Manni

b Keys must be immutable. Which means you can use strings, numbers or tuples as dictionary keys but something
like ['key'] is not allowed. Following is a simple example −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

dict = {['Name']: 'Zara', 'Age': 7}


print "dict['Name']: ", dict['Name']

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Traceback (most recent call last):


File "test.py", line 3, in <module>
dict = {['Name']: 'Zara', 'Age': 7};
TypeError: unhashable type: 'list'

Built-in Dictionary Functions & Methods


Python includes the following dictionary functions −

Sr.No. Function with Description

1 cmpdict1, dict2

Compares elements of both dict.

2 lendict

Gives the total length of the dictionary. This would be equal to the number of items in the
dictionary.

3 strdict

Produces a printable string representation of a dictionary

4 typevariable
Returns the type of the passed variable. If passed variable is dictionary, then it would return a
dictionary type.

Python includes following dictionary methods −

Sr.No. Methods with Description

1 dict.clear

Removes all elements of dictionary dict

2 dict.copy

Returns a shallow copy of dictionary dict

3 dict.fromkeys

Create a new dictionary with keys from seq and values set to value.

4 dict.getkey, def ault = N one

For key key, returns value or default if key not in dictionary

5 dict.has_keykey

Returns true if key in dictionary dict, false otherwise

6 dict.items

Returns a list of dict's key, value tuple pairs

7 dict.keys

Returns list of dictionary dict's keys

8 dict.setdefaultkey, def ault = N one

Similar to get, but will set dict[key]=default if key is not already in dict

9 dict.updatedict2
Adds dictionary dict2's key-values pairs to dict

10 dict.values

Returns list of dictionary dict's values

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