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. 

Python3

Dict = {1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}
print(Dict)

Output:

{1: 'Geeks', 2: 'For', 3: 'Geeks'}

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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. 

Python3

# 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{}. 

Python3

# 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'}

Complexities for Creating a Dictionary:

Time complexity: O(len(dict))

Space complexity: O(n)

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.

Python3

# 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'}}}

Complexities for Adding elements in a Dictionary:

Time complexity: O(1)/O(n)

Space complexity: O(1)

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. 

Python3

# 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.

Complexities for Accessing elements in a Dictionary:

Time complexity: O(1)

Space complexity: O(1)

Python3

# 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.

Python3

# 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

Dictionary methods

• clear() – Remove all the elements from the dictionary
• copy() – Returns a copy of the dictionary
• get() – Returns the value of specified key
• items() – Returns a list containing a tuple for each key value pair
• keys() – Returns a list containing dictionary’s keys
• pop() – Remove the element with specified key
• popitem() – Removes the last inserted key-value pair
• update() – Updates dictionary with specified key-value pairs
• values() – Returns a list of all the values of dictionary

Python3

# 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'])