Dictionary

Week 3

Dr. Syed Imran Ali

Agenda
• Dictionary Data Structure
• Dict creation approaches
• Accessing values
• Deletion operations
• Other general purpose operations

Advanced Programming in Python 2

Dictionary
• A dictionary is a built-in data type used to store data in key-value pairs. It
is a mutable, ordered collection that does not allow duplicate keys.

>>> config = { >>> # Update a value

... "color": "green", >>> config["font"] = "Helvetica"
... "width": 42, >>> config
... "height": 100, {
... "font": "Courier", 'color': 'green',
... } 'width': 42,
'height': 100,
>>> # Access a value through its key 'font': 'Helvetica'
>>> config["color"] }
'green'

Advanced Programming in Python 3

Dictionary
• Python’s dictionaries have the following characteristics:
• Mutable: The dictionary values can be updated in place.
• Dynamic: Dictionaries can grow and shrink as needed.
• Efficient: They’re implemented as hash tables, which allows for fast
key lookup.
• Ordered: Starting with Python 3.7, dictionaries keep their items in the
same order they were inserted.
• The keys of a dictionary have a couple of restrictions. They need
to be:
• Hashable: This means that you can’t use unhashable objects like lists
as dictionary keys.
• Unique: This means that your dictionaries won’t have duplicate keys.
Advanced Programming in Python 4
Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
• The most common way is to use dictionary literals, which are a comma-
separated series of key-value pairs in curly braces.

{
<key_1>: <value_1>,
<key_2>: <value_2>,
...,
<key_N>: <value_N>,
}

Advanced Programming in Python 5

Keys are Hashables
• The keys must be hashable objects like numbers, strings,
or tuples.
• Being hashable means they can be passed to a hash
function.
• A hash function takes data of arbitrary size and maps it
to a fixed-size value called a hash value—or just hash—
which is used for table lookup and comparison.
• In Python, the built-in immutable data types are
hashable, and the mutable types are unhashable.

Advanced Programming in Python 6

Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
• The following code defines a dictionary that maps cities or states to the
names of their corresponding Major League Baseball (MLB) teams

>>> MLB_teams = {
... "Colorado": "Rockies",
... "Chicago": "White Sox",
... "Boston": "Red Sox",
... "Minnesota": "Twins",
... "Milwaukee": "Brewers",
... "Seattle": "Mariners",
... }
Advanced Programming in Python 7
Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
• The following example shows a dictionary with integer,
float, and Boolean objects used as keys

>>> {42: "aaa", 2.78: "bbb", True: "ccc"}

{42: 'aaa', 2.78: 'bbb', True: 'ccc'}

Advanced Programming in Python 8

Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
You can even use objects like data types and functions as
keys

>>> types = {int: 1, float: 2, bool: 3}

>>> types
{<class 'int'>: 1, <class 'float'>: 2, <class 'bool'>: 3}

>>> types[float]
2
>>> types[bool]
3
Advanced Programming in Python 9
Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
• Unhashable objects as keys

>>> {[1, 2]: "A list as a key? Hmm..."}

Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: unhashable type: 'list'

Advanced Programming in Python 10

Creating Dictionaries in Python - Literals
• Even though tuples are immutable, they can contain
mutable objects. You can’t use a tuple that contains
mutable objects as a dictionary key

>>> {(1, [1, 1]): "a"}

Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: unhashable type: 'list'

Advanced Programming in Python 11

Dictionary Creation
• If you need to use sequences as dictionary keys, then you can use
tuples because tuples are immutable

>>> a_dict = {(1, 1): "a", (1, 2): "b", (2, 1): "c", (2, 2): "d"}

>>> a_dict[(1, 1)]

'a'
>>> a_dict[(2, 1)]
'c'

Advanced Programming in Python 12

Custom objects as values
>>> class Point:
... def __init__(self, x, y):
... self.x = x
... self.y = y
...

>>> {
... "colors": ["red", "green", "blue"],
... "plugins": {"py_code", "dev_sugar", "fasting_py"},
... "timeout": 3,
... "position": Point(42, 21),
... }
Advanced Programming in Python 13
Creating Dictionaries in Python - Constructor
• The arguments to dict() can be a series of keyword
arguments, another mapping, or an iterable of key-value
pairs.

dict()
dict(**kwargs)
dict(mapping, **kwargs)
dict(iterable, **kwargs)

Advanced Programming in Python 14

dict(**kwargs) – variable = value

>>> MLB_teams = dict(

... Colorado="Rockies",
... Chicago="White Sox",
... Boston="Red Sox",
... Minnesota="Twins",
... Milwaukee="Brewers",
... Seattle="Mariners",
... )

Advanced Programming in Python 15

Through iterable
>>> MLB_teams = dict(
... [
... ("Colorado", "Rockies"),
... ("Chicago", "White Sox"),
... ("Boston", "Red Sox"),
... ("Minnesota", "Twins"),
... ("Milwaukee", "Brewers"),
... ("Seattle", "Mariners"),
... ]
... )
Advanced Programming in Python 16
 Through zip function

>>> dict(zip(places, teams))

>>> places = [ >>> teams = [
{
... "Colorado", ... "Rockies",
'Colorado': 'Rockies',
... "Chicago", ... "White Sox",
'Chicago': 'White Sox',
... "Boston", ... "Red Sox",
'Boston': 'Red Sox',
... "Minnesota", ... "Twins",
'Minnesota': 'Twins',
... "Milwaukee", ... "Brewers",
'Milwaukee': 'Brewers',
... "Seattle", ... "Mariners",
'Seattle': 'Mariners'
... ] ... ]
}

Advanced Programming in Python 17

Dictionary Creation - .fromkey() method
The dict data type has a class method called .fromkeys() that
lets you create new dictionaries from an iterable of keys and
a default value. The method’s signature looks like the
following

.fromkeys(iterable, value=None, /)

Advanced Programming in Python 18

 Dictionary Creation - .fromkey() method
The dict data type has a class method called .fromkeys() that lets you
create new dictionaries from an iterable of keys and a default value.
The method’s signature looks like the following

>>> inventory = dict.fromkeys(["apple", "orange", "banana", "mango"], 0)

>>> inventory
{'apple': 0, 'orange': 0, 'banana': 0, 'mango': 0}

Advanced Programming in Python 19

Accessing Dictionary Values
If you refer to a key that isn’t in the dictionary, then Python raises an
exception

>>> MLB_teams["Indianapolis"]
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
KeyError: 'Indianapolis'

Advanced Programming in Python 20

Accessing Dictionary Values
Accessing nested objects

>>> person = { >>> person["children"][0]

... "first_name": "John", 'Ralph'
... "last_name": "Doe", >>> person["children"][2]
... "age": 35, 'Bob'
... "spouse": "Jane",
... "children": ["Ralph", "Betty", "Bob"], >>> person["pets"]["dog"]
... "pets": {"dog": “Jimmy", "cat": "Sox"}, ‘Jimmy'
... } >>> person["pets"]["cat"]
'Sox'

Advanced Programming in Python 21

Populating Dictionaries

When populating dictionaries, there are three

common techniques that you can use. You can:

• Assign keys manually

• Add keys in a for loop
• Build a dictionary with a comprehension

Advanced Programming in Python 22

 Assign keys manually

>>> person = {}

>>> person["first_name"] = "John"

>>> person["last_name"] = "Doe"
>>> person["age"] = 35
>>> person["spouse"] = "Jane"
>>> person["children"] = ["Ralph", "Betty", "Bob"]
>>> person["pets"] = {"dog": “Jimmy", "cat": "Sox"}

Advanced Programming in Python 23

 Adding Keys in a for loop

>>> squares = {}

>>> for integer in range(1, 10):

... squares[integer] = integer**2
...

>>> squares
{1: 1, 2: 4, 3: 9, 4: 16, 5: 25, 6: 36, 7: 49, 8: 64, 9: 81}

Advanced Programming in Python 24

Building Dict with Comprehensions
Python has dictionary comprehensions, which is
another great tool for creating and populating
dictionaries with concise syntax.

>>> squares = {integer: integer**2 for integer in range(1, 10)}

>>> squares
{1: 1, 2: 4, 3: 9, 4: 16, 5: 25, 6: 36, 7: 49, 8: 64, 9: 81}

Advanced Programming in Python 25

Retrieving Data From Dictionaries
The .get() method provides a convenient way to retrieve the value
associated with a key without checking whether the key exists beforehand.

>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100}

>>> inventory.get("apple")
100
>>> print(inventory.get("mango"))
None

Advanced Programming in Python 26

Retrieving Data From Dictionaries
The key you want to search for is the first argument to .get(). The
second argument, which is optional, is a default value that will be
used if the target key doesn’t exist in the dictionary.

>>> inventory.get("mango", 0)
0

Advanced Programming in Python 27

Retrieving All the Values: .values()
The dict_values object contains all the values in inventory. Note that any
duplicate values will be returned as many times as they occur

>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100}

>>> inventory.values()
dict_values([100, 80, 100])

Advanced Programming in Python 28

Accessing All the Keys: .keys()
Again, the view object dict_keys contains all the keys in the inventory
dictionary. Since dictionary keys are unique, you won’t get any duplicate
keys

>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100}

>>> inventory.keys()
dict_keys(['apple', 'orange', 'banana'])

Advanced Programming in Python 29

Getting All the Items or Key-Value Pairs: .items()
The .items() method returns a dictionary view containing tuples of keys and
values. The first item in each tuple is the key, while the second item is the
associated value

>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100}

>>> inventory.items()
dict_items([('apple', 100), ('orange', 80), ('banana', 100)])

Advanced Programming in Python 30

Adding Key-Value Pairs and Updating Dictionaries
>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80}

>>> inventory.setdefault("apple")
100
>>> print(inventory.setdefault("mango"))
None
>>> inventory
{'apple': 100, 'orange': 80, 'mango': None}
>>> inventory.setdefault("banana", 0)
0
>>> inventory
{'apple': 100, 'orange': 80, 'mango': None, 'banana': 0}
Advanced Programming in Python 31
Updating a Dict: .update([other])
The .update() method merges a dictionary with another dictionary
or with an iterable of key-value pairs.

If other is a dictionary, then a_dict.update(other) merges the

entries from other into a_dict. For each key in other, you can have
one of the following results:

• If the key isn’t present in a_dict, then the key-value pair from
other is added to a_dict.
• If the key is present in a_dict, then the corresponding value in
a_dict is updated to the value in other
Advanced Programming in Python 32
PEP
>>>8config
– Python
={ Coding Style Guide
... "color": "green", >>> config.update(user_config)
... "width": 42,
... "height": 100, >>> config
... "font": "Courier", {
... } 'color': 'red',
'width': 42,
>>> user_config = { 'height': 100,
... "path": "/home", 'font': 'Arial',
... "color": "red", 'path': '/home',
... "font": "Arial", 'position': (200, 100)
... "position": (200, 100), }
... }
Advanced Programming in Python 33
Updating a Dict: .update([other])
The other argument may also be a sequence of key-value pairs
>>> config.update([("width", 200), ("api_key", 1234)])
>>> config
{
'color': 'red',
'width': 200,
'height': 100,
'font': 'Arial',
'path': '/home',
'position': (200, 100),
'api_key': 1234
}
Advanced Programming in Python 34
Updating a Dict: .update([other])
Finally, you can also call .update() with keyword arguments
>>> config.update(color="yellow", script="__main__.py")
>>> config
{
'color': 'yellow',
'width': 200,
'height': 100,
'font': 'Arial',
'path': '/home',
'position': (200, 100),
'api_key': 1234,
'script': '__main__.py'
} Advanced Programming in Python 35
Removing items through pop()
>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100}

>>> inventory.pop("apple")
100
>>> inventory
{'orange': 80, 'banana': 100}

>>> inventory.pop("mango")
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
KeyError: 'mango'

>>> inventory.pop("mango", 0)
0 Advanced Programming in Python 36
Removing items through popitem()

>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, >>> inventory.popitem()

"orange": 80, "banana": 100} ('orange', 80)
>>> inventory
>>> inventory.popitem() {'apple': 100}
('banana', 100)
>>> inventory >>> inventory.popitem()
{'apple': 100, 'orange': 80} ('apple', 100)
>>> inventory
{}

Advanced Programming in Python 37

Using Operators with Dictionaries

There are a few Python operators you can use with dictionaries.
The most notable ones are the membership, equality, and union
operators.

Membership: in and not in

• The membership operators in and not in allow you to
determine whether a given key, value, or item is in a
dictionary, depending on the target iterable you use

Advanced Programming in Python 38

Membership operators
>>> MLB_teams = { >>> MLB_teams = {
... "Colorado": "Rockies", ... "Colorado": "Rockies",
... "Chicago": "White Sox", ... "Chicago": "White Sox",
... "Boston": "Red Sox", ... "Boston": "Red Sox",
... "Minnesota": "Twins", ... "Minnesota": "Twins",
... "Milwaukee": "Brewers", ... "Milwaukee": "Brewers",
... "Seattle": "Mariners", ... "Seattle": "Mariners",
... } ... }

>>> "Milwaukee" in MLB_teams >>> "Milwaukee" in MLB_teams.keys()

True True
>>> "Indianapolis" in MLB_teams >>> "Indianapolis" in MLB_teams.keys()
False False
Advanced Programming in Python 39
Membership operators

You can also use the in and not in operators with the .values()
method to determine whether a given value is in your
dictionary
>>> "Rockies" in MLB_teams.values()
True
>>> "Rockies" not in MLB_teams.values()
False

Advanced Programming in Python 40

Membership operators

You may want to know whether a key-value pair is in the target

dictionary. To figure this out, you can use the membership
operators with the .items() method.

>>> ("Boston", "Red Sox") in MLB_teams.items()

True
>>> ("Boston", "Red Sox") not in MLB_teams.items()
False

Advanced Programming in Python 41

Equality and Inequality: == and !=
The equality (==) and inequality (!=) operators also work with
dictionaries. These operators disregard element order when you
use them with dictionaries, which is different from what
happens with lists.
>>> [1, 2, 3] == [3, 2, 1]
False
>>> {1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3} == {3: 3, 2: 2, 1: 1}
True

>>> [1, 2, 3] != [3, 2, 1]

True
>>> {1: 1, 2: 2, 3: 3} != {3: 3, 2: 2, 1: 1}
False Advanced Programming in Python 42
 Built-in functions
• all() Returns True if all the items in an iterable are truthy and False
otherwise.
• any() Returns True if at least one element in the iterable is truthy and
False otherwise.
• len() Returns an integer representing the number of items in the
input object.
• max() Returns the largest value in an iterable or series of arguments.
• min() Returns the smallest value in an iterable or series of arguments.
• sorted() Returns a new sorted list of the elements in the iterable.
• sum() Returns the sum of a start value and the values in the input
iterable from left to right.

Advanced Programming in Python 43

 Checking for Truthy Data in Dictionaries: all() and any()
• You have a dictionary that maps products to their amounts. You
want to know whether all of the products are stocked.
>>> inventory = {"apple": 100, "orange": 80, "banana": 100, "mango":
200}

>>> all(inventory.values())
True

>>> # Update the stock

>>> inventory["mango"] = 0
>>> all(inventory.values())
False Advanced Programming in Python 44
Items: len()
• You need to know the number of key-value pairs in an existing
dictionary.
>>> MLB_teams = {
... "Colorado": "Rockies",
... "Chicago": "White Sox",
... "Boston": "Red Sox",
... "Minnesota": "Twins",
... "Milwaukee": "Brewers",
... "Seattle": "Mariners",
... }

>>> len(MLB_teams)
6
Advanced Programming in Python 45
Min() and Max() operations

>>> computer_parts = {
... "CPU": 299.99,
... "Motherboard": 149.99,
... "RAM": 89.99, >>> min(computer_parts.values())
... "GPU": 499.99, 59.99
... "SSD": 129.99,
... "Power Supply": 79.99, >>> max(computer_parts.values())
... "Case": 99.99, 499.99
... "Cooling System": 59.99,
... }

Advanced Programming in Python 46

Sorting based on Value

>>> dict(sorted(students.items(),
>>> students = {
... "Alice": 89.5, key=lambda item: item[1]))
... "Bob": 76.0, {
... "Charlie": 92.3, 'George': 73.4,
... "Diana": 84.7, 'Bob': 76.0,
... "Ethan": 88.9, 'Hannah': 81.2,
... "Fiona": 95.6, 'Diana': 84.7,
... "George": 73.4, 'Ethan': 88.9,
... "Hannah": 81.2, 'Alice': 89.5,
... } 'Charlie': 92.3,
'Fiona': 95.6
}
Advanced Programming in Python 47
Sorting based on Key

>>> dict(sorted(students.items(),
>>> students = { key=lambda item: item[0]))
... "Alice": 89.5, {
... "Bob": 76.0, 'Alice': 89.5,
... "Charlie": 92.3, 'Bob': 76.0,
... "Diana": 84.7, 'Charlie': 92.3,
... "Ethan": 88.9, 'Diana': 84.7,
... "Fiona": 95.6, 'Ethan': 88.9,
... "George": 73.4, 'Fiona': 95.6,
... "Hannah": 81.2, 'George': 73.4,
... } 'Hannah': 81.2
}
Advanced Programming in Python 48
Sum function

>>> daily_sales = {
... "Monday": 1500,
... "Tuesday": 1750,
... "Wednesday": 1600,
... "Thursday": 1800,
... "Friday": 2000,
... "Saturday": 2200,
... "Sunday": 2100,
... }

>>> sum(daily_sales.values()) / len(daily_sales)

1850.0
Advanced Programming in Python 49
Iterating over a dictionary
>>> students = {
... "Alice": 89.5,
... "Bob": 76.0,
... "Charlie": 92.3,
... "Diana": 84.7,
... "Ethan": 88.9,
... "Fiona": 95.6,
... "George": 73.4,
... "Hannah": 81.2,
... }

>>> for student in students:

... print(student)
Advanced Programming in Python 50
Iterating over a dictionary

>>> for student in students:

... print(student, "->", students[student])
...
Alice -> 89.5
Bob -> 76.0
Charlie -> 92.3
Diana -> 84.7
Ethan -> 88.9
Fiona -> 95.6
George -> 73.4
Hannah -> 81.2

Advanced Programming in Python 51

 Iterating over a dictionary

>>> MLB_teams = { >>> for team in MLB_teams.values():

... "Colorado": "Rockies", ... print(team)
... "Chicago": "White Sox", ...
... "Boston": "Red Sox", Rockies
... "Minnesota": "Twins", White Sox
... "Milwaukee": "Brewers", Red Sox
... "Seattle": "Mariners", Twins
... } Brewers
Mariners

Advanced Programming in Python 52

Iterating over a dictionary

>>> for place, team in MLB_teams.items():

... print(place, "->", team)
...
Colorado -> Rockies
Chicago -> White Sox
Boston -> Red Sox
Minnesota -> Twins
Milwaukee -> Brewers
Seattle -> Mariners

Advanced Programming in Python 53