Dictionary

in Python
 Dictionary is one of the data type in python.
 It is mapping between key and values. The
association of a key and a value is called a key-
value pair or sometimes an item.
 Lists are ordered set of objects, whereas dictionaries
are unordered sets.
 Items in dictionaries are accessed via keys and not
via their position.
 Syntax of dictionary:
{key1:value1, key2:value2,...}

 Example:
{1:’abc’,2:’xyz’}
 Empty dictionary is denoted by { }.
 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 immutable.
 The function dict creates a new dictionary with no items.
Because dict is the name of a built-in function, you
should avoid using it as a variable name.

 Ex:
a = dict()
print(a)

Output:
{}

 a = {}
print(a)
 Ex:
a = dict()
print(dict)

Output:
<type 'dict'>
Adding & Accessing items
 To add items to the dictionary, you can use
square brackets:
Ex:
a=dict()
a[1] = ‘abc‘
print(a)

Output:
{1: 'abc'}
Ex:
a=dict()
a[‘a’] = ‘abc‘
a['b'] = 'pqr'
print(a)
print(a[‘b’])

Output:
{'a': 'abc', 'b': 'pqr'}
pqr
Ex:
a=dict()
a[b] = 'abc‘
print(a)

Output:
NameError: name 'b' is not defined
Ex:
dict={1:'Name',2:'xyz',2:'abc'}
print(dict)
print(dict[1])
print(dict[2])

Output:
{1: 'Name', 2: 'abc'}
Name
abc
 Attempting to access a data item with a key, which is
not part of dictionary will result in error.

 Ex:
a = {'a':'abc','b':'pqr'}
print(a)
print(a['a’])
print(a[‘c’])

Output:
{'a': 'abc', 'b': 'pqr'}
abc
KeyError: 'c'
Updating dictionary
(1) By adding new items/modifying existing
entry:

Ex:
a = {'a': 'abc', 'b': 'pqr'}
a[‘a’]=‘zxc’
a['c']=8
print(a)

Output:
{'a': 'zxc', 'b': 'pqr', 'c': 8}
(2) Removing dictionary:

Ex:
a={1:'abc', 2:'pqr'}
del a[1]
print(a)
del a[2]
print(a)
a[1]='abc'
print(a)
a.clear()
print(a)
del a
print(a)
Output:
{2: 'pqr'}
{}
{1: 'abc'}
{}
NameError: name 'a' is not defined
Built-in dictionary functions
1. cmp(dict1, dict2)
cmp() compares two dictionaries based
on key and values.
 Syntax:
cmp(dict1, dict2)
 This method returns 0 if both dictionaries
are equal, -1 if dict1 < dict2 and 1 if dict1
> dic2.
Ex:

dict1 = {'Name': 'abc', 'Age': 7}

dict2 = {'Name': 'abc', 'Age': 7}
dict3 = {'Name': 'abc', 'Age': 27}
dict4 = {'Name': 'AAc', 'Age': 7}
dict5 = {'Name': 'ABc', 'Age': 7}
dict6 = {'Name': 'abc', 'Age': 31}
dict7 = {'Name': 'pqr'}
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict1, dict2)
#print cmp(dict1, dict2)
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict2, dict3)
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict1, dict4)
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict4, dict5)
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict4, dict6)
print "Return Value : %d" % cmp (dict1, dict7)
Output:
Return Value : 0
Return Value : -1
Return Value : 1
Return Value : -1
Return Value : -1
Return Value : 1
 Python 3: cmp does not exist
Ex:
if dict1==dict2:
print(“True”)
2. len(dict)
Gives the total length of the dictionary. This would
be equal to the number of items in the dictionary.
 Syntax:
len(dict)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print("Length : “, len(dict))
dict1 = {}
print("Length : “, len(dict1))

Output:
Length : 2
Length : 0
3. str(dict)
Produces a printable string representation of a
dictionary.

 Syntax:
str(dict)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print("Equivalent String : “, str (dict))
print(dict)

Output:
Equivalent String : {'Age': 7, 'Name': 'Zara'}
{'Age': 7, 'Name': 'Zara'}
4. type(variable)
Returns the type of the passed variable. If passed
variable is dictionary, then it would return a
dictionary type.

 Syntax:
type(dict)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print("Variable Type : “, type (dict))

Output:
Variable Type : <class 'dict'>
Built-in dictionary methods
1. dict.clear()
Removes all elements of dictionary dict.

 Syntax:
dict.clear()
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print("Start Len : “, len(dict))
dict.clear()
print("End Len : “, len(dict))

Output:
Start Len : 2
End Len : 0
2. dict.copy()
Returns a copy of dictionary dict

 Syntax:
dict.copy()
Ex:
dict1 = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7};
dict2 = dict1.copy()
print("New Dictionary : “, str(dict2))

Output:
New Dictionary : {'Age': 7, 'Name': 'Zara'}
3. dict.fromkeys()
Create a new dictionary with keys from seq and
values set to value.

 Syntax:
dict.fromkeys(seq[, value])

seq -- This is the list of values which would be used

for dictionary keys preparation.
value -- This is optional, if provided then value would
be set to this value.
Ex:
seq = ('name', 'age')
dict = dict.fromkeys(seq)
print("New Dictionary : “, str(dict))
dict = dict.fromkeys(seq, 10)
print("New Dictionary : “, str(dict))

Output:
New Dictionary : {'name': None, 'age': None}
New Dictionary : {'name': 10, 'age': 10}
# vowels keys
keys = {'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u' }
value = [1]

vowels = dict.fromkeys(keys, value)

print(vowels)

# updating the value

value.append(2)
print(vowels)
 Output:
{'a': [1], 'u': [1], 'o': [1], 'e': [1], 'i': [1]}
{'a': [1, 2], 'u': [1, 2], 'o': [1, 2], 'e': [1, 2], 'i': [1,
2]}
4. dict.get(key, default=None)
Returns a value for the given key. If key is not
available then returns default value None.

 Syntax:
dict.get(key, default=None)

key -- This is the Key to be searched in the

dictionary.
default -- This is the Value to be returned in case key
does not exist.
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zabra', 'Age': 7}
print("Value : " , dict.get('Age’))
print("Value : “, dict.get('Education', ‘Never’))
print("Value : “, dict.get('Gender’))
print(dict)

Output:
Value : 7
Value : Never
Value : None
{'Age': 7, 'Name': 'Zabra'}
5. dict.has_key(key)
Returns true if key is in dictionary dict, false
otherwise

 Syntax:
dict.has_key(key)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print(“Answer : “, dict.has_key('Age’))
print(" Answer : “, dict.has_key('Education’))

Output:
Answer : True
Answer : False
 Python 3: has_key does not exist.
dict1 = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
if 'Age' in dict1:
print(‘True’)
6. dict.items()
Returns a list of dict's (key, value) tuple pairs

 Syntax:
dict.items()
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print(“Answer : “, list(dict.items()))

Output:
Answer : [('Name', 'Zara'), ('Age', 7)]
7. dict.keys()
Returns list of dictionary dict's keys

 Syntax:
dict.keys()
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
dict1 = {}
print(“Key : “, dict.keys())
print("Value : “, dict1.keys())

Output:
Key : ['Age', 'Name']
Value : []
8. dict.setdefault(key, default=None)
Similar to get(), but will set dict[key]=default
if key is not already in dict

 Syntax:
dict.setdefault(key, default=None)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
print("Value : ", dict.setdefault('Age', None))
print("Value : “, dict.setdefault('Education', 'Never’))
print("Value : ", dict.setdefault('Gender’))
print(dict)

Output:
Value : 7
Value : Never
Value : None
{'Name': 'Zara', 'Age’: 7, 'Education’: 'Never’, 'Gender’:
None}
 Difference between get() and
setdefault() methods:

data = {}
x = data.get('key',10)
print(x) #Output:10
print(data) #Output: {}
data = {}
x = data.setdefault('key',10)
print(x) #Output:10
print(data) #Output: {'key': 10}
9. dict.update(dict2)
Adds dictionary dict2's key-values pairs to dict. This
function does not return anything.

 Syntax:
dict.update(dict2)
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
dict2 = {'Gender': 'female' }
dict.update(dict2)
print("Value : “, dict)
print(dict2)

Output:
Value : {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7, 'Gender': 'female'}
{'Gender': 'female'}
10. dict.values()
Returns list of dictionary dict's values

 Syntax:
dict.values()
Ex:
dict = {'Name': 'Zara', 'Age': 7}
dict2 = {}
print("Value : “, dict.values())
print("Value : “, dict2.values())

Output:
Value : [7, 'Zara']
Value : []
Ex:
a = {1: 'abc', 2: 'pqr', 3: 'xyz'}
print(1 in a)
print(4 in a)
val = a.values()
print('pqr' in val)

Output:
True
False
True
11. pop(), popitem()

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

print(min(dict))
print(max(dict))
print(dict.pop('Name'))
print(dict)
print(dict.pop('Age'))
print(dict)
dict['N']='Zara'
dict['A']=7
print(dict)
print(dict.popitem())
print(dict)
 Output:
Age
Name
Zara
{'Age': 7}
7
{}
{'N': 'Zara', 'A': 7}
('A', 7)
{'N': 'Zara'}
 Looping and dictionaries

Problem: You are given a string and you want to

count how many times each letter appears.

 The for loop traverses the string. Each time through

the loop, if the character c is not in the dictionary,
we create a new item with key c and the initial
value 1 (since we have seen this letter once). If c is
already in the dictionary we increment d[c].
 Ex:
word = 'brontosaurus'
d = dict()
for c in word:
if c not in d:
d[c] = 1
else:
d[c] = d[c] + 1
print(d)

 Output:
{'a': 1, 'b': 1, 'o': 2, 'n': 1, 's': 2, 'r': 2, 'u': 2, 't': 1}
 We can use get to write our loop more concisely.
Because the get method automatically handles the
case where a key is not in a dictionary, we can
reduce four lines down to one and eliminate the if
statement.

word = 'brontosaurus'
d = dict()
for c in word:
d[c] = d.get(c,0) + 1
print(d)
 If you use a dictionary as the sequence in a for
statement, it traverses the keys of the dictionary. This
loop prints each key and the corresponding value.

Ex:
counts = { 1:'abc',2:'pqr',3:'xyz'}
for key in counts:
print(key, counts[key])

Output:
1 abc
2 pqr
3 xyz
Problem:
Find all the entries in a dictionary with a value above
ten.
d = { ‘abc' : 1 , ‘pqr' : 42, ‘xyz': 100}
for i in d:
if d[i] > 10 :
print(i, d[i])

Output:
pqr 42
xyz 100
 Problem:
Print keys in alphabetical order.
d = {'chuck' : 1 , 'annie' : 42, 'jan': 100}
lst = list(d.keys()) # lst = list(d)
print(lst)
l = sorted(lst)
for i in l:
print(i, d[i])

Output:
['chuck', 'annie', 'jan']
annie 42
chuck 1
jan 100
 With a given integral number n, write a
program to generate a dictionary that
contains (i, i*i). Suppose the following
input is supplied to the program:
8
Then, the output should be:
{1: 1, 2: 4, 3: 9, 4: 16, 5: 25, 6: 36, 7: 49, 8: 64}
Solution:
n=int(input())
d=dict()
for i in range(1,n+1):
d[i]=i*i
print(d)