Dynamically accessing nested dictionary keys? - python

Is there some simple way to access nested dictionary key when at first you don't know which key you will be accessing?
For example:
dct = {'label': 'A', 'config': {'value': 'val1'}}
In this dictionary I will need to access either label key or value key inside another dict that is accessible through config key.
It depends on state.
For example if we have variable called label, so if:
label = True
if label:
key = 'label'
in this case its kind of easy:
dct[key]
Now if label is false and I need to access nested dictionary, how can I dynamically specify it so I would not need to use ifs on every iterated item (I mean check everytime if label is used instead of value, because I will know that before starting iteration on dictionary full of dct dictionaries)?
like:
label = False
if label:
key = 'label'
else:
key = 'config..?' # it should be something like ['config']['value']

Expanding on #Barun's work, and possibly helping answer #Bhavani's question re setting values in a nested dictionary, here is a generalised solution to dynamically accessing or setting nested dictionary keys. Python 3.7.
from typing import List
class DynamicAccessNestedDict:
"""Dynamically get/set nested dictionary keys of 'data' dict"""
def __init__(self, data: dict):
self.data = data
def getval(self, keys: List):
data = self.data
for k in keys:
data = data[k]
return data
def setval(self, keys: List, val) -> None:
data = self.data
lastkey = keys[-1]
for k in keys[:-1]: # when assigning drill down to *second* last key
data = data[k]
data[lastkey] = val
You just wrap your dictionary in an instance of this class, then get and set by passing a list of keys.
dct = {'label': 'A', 'config': {'value': 'val1'}}
d = DynamicAccessNestedDict(dct)
assert d.getval(["label"]) == "A"
assert d.getval(["config", "value"]) == "val1"
# Set some new values
d.setval(["label"], "B")
d.setval(["config", "value"], "val2")
assert d.getval(["label"]) == "B"
assert d.getval(["config", "value"]) == "val2"

If you know the key to be traversed, you can try out the following. This would work for any level of nested dicts.
dct = {'label': 'A', 'config': {'value': 'val1'}}
label = True
key = ('label',)
if not label:
key = ('config', 'value')
ret = dct
for k in key:
ret = ret[k]
print ret

from functools import reduce
import operator
#db is dictionary which need to update
#keys is a list need to depth of keys in a order
#value targeted value to update in dictionary
class Dict_update:
def set_by_path(self, db, keys, value):
"""Set a value in a nested object in db by keys sequence."""
for index in range(1,len(keys)):
subitem = self.get_by_path(db, keys[:index])
if not isinstance(subitem, dict):
self.get_by_path(db, keys[:index][:-1])[keys[:index][-1]] = {}
self.get_by_path(db, keys[:-1])[keys[-1]] = value
return db
def get_by_path(self, db, keys):
try: return reduce(operator.getitem, keys, db)
except Exception as e:
return None

Related

append a nested python dict with a full path key without overwrite exiting keys or create a new key if the current key is not exist [duplicate]

I have a complex dictionary structure which I would like to access via a list of keys to address the correct item.
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
maplist = ["a", "r"]
or
maplist = ["b", "v", "y"]
I have made the following code which works but I'm sure there is a better and more efficient way to do this if anyone has an idea.
# Get a given data from a dictionary with position provided as a list
def getFromDict(dataDict, mapList):
for k in mapList: dataDict = dataDict[k]
return dataDict
# Set a given data in a dictionary with position provided as a list
def setInDict(dataDict, mapList, value):
for k in mapList[:-1]: dataDict = dataDict[k]
dataDict[mapList[-1]] = value
Use reduce() to traverse the dictionary:
from functools import reduce # forward compatibility for Python 3
import operator
def getFromDict(dataDict, mapList):
return reduce(operator.getitem, mapList, dataDict)
and reuse getFromDict to find the location to store the value for setInDict():
def setInDict(dataDict, mapList, value):
getFromDict(dataDict, mapList[:-1])[mapList[-1]] = value
All but the last element in mapList is needed to find the 'parent' dictionary to add the value to, then use the last element to set the value to the right key.
Demo:
>>> getFromDict(dataDict, ["a", "r"])
1
>>> getFromDict(dataDict, ["b", "v", "y"])
2
>>> setInDict(dataDict, ["b", "v", "w"], 4)
>>> import pprint
>>> pprint.pprint(dataDict)
{'a': {'r': 1, 's': 2, 't': 3},
'b': {'u': 1, 'v': {'w': 4, 'x': 1, 'y': 2, 'z': 3}, 'w': 3}}
Note that the Python PEP8 style guide prescribes snake_case names for functions. The above works equally well for lists or a mix of dictionaries and lists, so the names should really be get_by_path() and set_by_path():
from functools import reduce # forward compatibility for Python 3
import operator
def get_by_path(root, items):
"""Access a nested object in root by item sequence."""
return reduce(operator.getitem, items, root)
def set_by_path(root, items, value):
"""Set a value in a nested object in root by item sequence."""
get_by_path(root, items[:-1])[items[-1]] = value
And for completion's sake, a function to delete a key:
def del_by_path(root, items):
"""Delete a key-value in a nested object in root by item sequence."""
del get_by_path(root, items[:-1])[items[-1]]
It seems more pythonic to use a for loop.
See the quote from What’s New In Python 3.0.
Removed reduce(). Use functools.reduce() if you really need it; however, 99 percent of the time an explicit for loop is more readable.
def nested_get(dic, keys):
for key in keys:
dic = dic[key]
return dic
def nested_set(dic, keys, value):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic.setdefault(key, {})
dic[keys[-1]] = value
def nested_del(dic, keys):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic[key]
del dic[keys[-1]]
Note that the accepted solution doesn't set non-existing nested keys (it raises KeyError). Using the approach above will create non-existing nodes instead.
The code works in both Python 2 and 3.
Using reduce is clever, but the OP's set method may have issues if the parent keys do not pre-exist in the nested dictionary. Since this is the first SO post I saw for this subject in my google search, I would like to make it slightly better.
The set method in ( Setting a value in a nested python dictionary given a list of indices and value ) seems more robust to missing parental keys. To copy it over:
def nested_set(dic, keys, value):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic.setdefault(key, {})
dic[keys[-1]] = value
Also, it can be convenient to have a method that traverses the key tree and get all the absolute key paths, for which I have created:
def keysInDict(dataDict, parent=[]):
if not isinstance(dataDict, dict):
return [tuple(parent)]
else:
return reduce(list.__add__,
[keysInDict(v,parent+[k]) for k,v in dataDict.items()], [])
One use of it is to convert the nested tree to a pandas DataFrame, using the following code (assuming that all leafs in the nested dictionary have the same depth).
def dict_to_df(dataDict):
ret = []
for k in keysInDict(dataDict):
v = np.array( getFromDict(dataDict, k), )
v = pd.DataFrame(v)
v.columns = pd.MultiIndex.from_product(list(k) + [v.columns])
ret.append(v)
return reduce(pd.DataFrame.join, ret)
This library may be helpful: https://github.com/akesterson/dpath-python
A python library for accessing and searching dictionaries via
/slashed/paths ala xpath
Basically it lets you glob over a dictionary as if it were a
filesystem.
How about using recursive functions?
To get a value:
def getFromDict(dataDict, maplist):
first, rest = maplist[0], maplist[1:]
if rest:
# if `rest` is not empty, run the function recursively
return getFromDict(dataDict[first], rest)
else:
return dataDict[first]
And to set a value:
def setInDict(dataDict, maplist, value):
first, rest = maplist[0], maplist[1:]
if rest:
try:
if not isinstance(dataDict[first], dict):
# if the key is not a dict, then make it a dict
dataDict[first] = {}
except KeyError:
# if key doesn't exist, create one
dataDict[first] = {}
setInDict(dataDict[first], rest, value)
else:
dataDict[first] = value
Solved this with recursion:
def get(d,l):
if len(l)==1: return d[l[0]]
return get(d[l[0]],l[1:])
Using your example:
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
maplist1 = ["a", "r"]
maplist2 = ["b", "v", "y"]
print(get(dataDict, maplist1)) # 1
print(get(dataDict, maplist2)) # 2
Instead of taking a performance hit each time you want to look up a value, how about you flatten the dictionary once then simply look up the key like b:v:y
def flatten(mydict,sep = ':'):
new_dict = {}
for key,value in mydict.items():
if isinstance(value,dict):
_dict = {sep.join([key, _key]):_value for _key, _value in flatten(value).items()}
new_dict.update(_dict)
else:
new_dict[key]=value
return new_dict
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
flat_dict = flatten(dataDict)
print flat_dict
{'b:w': 3, 'b:u': 1, 'b:v:y': 2, 'b:v:x': 1, 'b:v:z': 3, 'a:r': 1, 'a:s': 2, 'a:t': 3}
This way you can simply look up items using flat_dict['b:v:y'] which will give you 1.
And instead of traversing the dictionary on each lookup, you may be able to speed this up by flattening the dictionary and saving the output so that a lookup from cold start would mean loading up the flattened dictionary and simply performing a key/value lookup with no traversal.
Check out NestedDict from the ndicts package (I am the author), it does exactly what you ask for.
from ndicts import NestedDict
data_dict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
nd = NestedDict(data_dict)
You can now access keys using comma separated values.
>>> nd["a", "r"]
1
>>> nd["b", "v"]
{"x": 1, "y": 2, "z": 3}
Pure Python style, without any import:
def nested_set(element, value, *keys):
if type(element) is not dict:
raise AttributeError('nested_set() expects dict as first argument.')
if len(keys) < 2:
raise AttributeError('nested_set() expects at least three arguments, not enough given.')
_keys = keys[:-1]
_element = element
for key in _keys:
_element = _element[key]
_element[keys[-1]] = value
example = {"foo": { "bar": { "baz": "ok" } } }
keys = ['foo', 'bar']
nested_set(example, "yay", *keys)
print(example)
Output
{'foo': {'bar': 'yay'}}
An alternative way if you don't want to raise errors if one of the keys is absent (so that your main code can run without interruption):
def get_value(self,your_dict,*keys):
curr_dict_ = your_dict
for k in keys:
v = curr_dict.get(k,None)
if v is None:
break
if isinstance(v,dict):
curr_dict = v
return v
In this case, if any of the input keys is not present, None is returned, which can be used as a check in your main code to perform an alternative task.
It's satisfying to see these answers for having two static methods for setting & getting nested attributes. These solutions are way better than using nested trees https://gist.github.com/hrldcpr/2012250
Here's my implementation.
Usage:
To set nested attribute call sattr(my_dict, 1, 2, 3, 5) is equal to my_dict[1][2][3][4]=5
To get a nested attribute call gattr(my_dict, 1, 2)
def gattr(d, *attrs):
"""
This method receives a dict and list of attributes to return the innermost value of the give dict
"""
try:
for at in attrs:
d = d[at]
return d
except(KeyError, TypeError):
return None
def sattr(d, *attrs):
"""
Adds "val" to dict in the hierarchy mentioned via *attrs
For ex:
sattr(animals, "cat", "leg","fingers", 4) is equivalent to animals["cat"]["leg"]["fingers"]=4
This method creates necessary objects until it reaches the final depth
This behaviour is also known as autovivification and plenty of implementation are around
This implementation addresses the corner case of replacing existing primitives
https://gist.github.com/hrldcpr/2012250#gistcomment-1779319
"""
for attr in attrs[:-2]:
if type(d.get(attr)) is not dict:
d[attr] = {}
d = d[attr]
d[attrs[-2]] = attrs[-1]
You can use pydash:
import pydash as _
_.get(dataDict, ["b", "v", "y"], default='Default')
https://pydash.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html
If you also want the ability to work with arbitrary json including nested lists and dicts, and nicely handle invalid lookup paths, here's my solution:
from functools import reduce
def get_furthest(s, path):
'''
Gets the furthest value along a given key path in a subscriptable structure.
subscriptable, list -> any
:param s: the subscriptable structure to examine
:param path: the lookup path to follow
:return: a tuple of the value at the furthest valid key, and whether the full path is valid
'''
def step_key(acc, key):
s = acc[0]
if isinstance(s, str):
return (s, False)
try:
return (s[key], acc[1])
except LookupError:
return (s, False)
return reduce(step_key, path, (s, True))
def get_val(s, path):
val, successful = get_furthest(s, path)
if successful:
return val
else:
raise LookupError('Invalid lookup path: {}'.format(path))
def set_val(s, path, value):
get_val(s, path[:-1])[path[-1]] = value
How about check and then set dict element without processing all indexes twice?
Solution:
def nested_yield(nested, keys_list):
"""
Get current nested data by send(None) method. Allows change it to Value by calling send(Value) next time
:param nested: list or dict of lists or dicts
:param keys_list: list of indexes/keys
"""
if not len(keys_list): # assign to 1st level list
if isinstance(nested, list):
while True:
nested[:] = yield nested
else:
raise IndexError('Only lists can take element without key')
last_key = keys_list.pop()
for key in keys_list:
nested = nested[key]
while True:
try:
nested[last_key] = yield nested[last_key]
except IndexError as e:
print('no index {} in {}'.format(last_key, nested))
yield None
Example workflow:
ny = nested_yield(nested_dict, nested_address)
data_element = ny.send(None)
if data_element:
# process element
...
else:
# extend/update nested data
ny.send(new_data_element)
...
ny.close()
Test
>>> cfg= {'Options': [[1,[0]],[2,[4,[8,16]]],[3,[9]]]}
ny = nested_yield(cfg, ['Options',1,1,1])
ny.send(None)
[8, 16]
>>> ny.send('Hello!')
'Hello!'
>>> cfg
{'Options': [[1, [0]], [2, [4, 'Hello!']], [3, [9]]]}
>>> ny.close()
Very late to the party, but posting in case this may help someone in the future. For my use case, the following function worked the best. Works to pull any data type out of dictionary
dict is the dictionary containing our value
list is a list of "steps" towards our value
def getnestedvalue(dict, list):
length = len(list)
try:
for depth, key in enumerate(list):
if depth == length - 1:
output = dict[key]
return output
dict = dict[key]
except (KeyError, TypeError):
return None
return None
I'd rather use simple recursion function:
def get_value_by_path(data, maplist):
if not maplist:
return data
for key in maplist:
if key in data:
return get_value_by_path(data[key], maplist[1:])
a method for concatenating strings:
def get_sub_object_from_path(dict_name, map_list):
for i in map_list:
_string = "['%s']" % i
dict_name += _string
value = eval(dict_name)
return value
#Sample:
_dict = {'new': 'person', 'time': {'for': 'one'}}
map_list = ['time', 'for']
print get_sub_object_from_path("_dict",map_list)
#Output:
#one
Extending #DomTomCat and others' approach, these functional (ie, return modified data via deepcopy without affecting the input) setter and mapper works for nested dict and list.
setter:
def set_at_path(data0, keys, value):
data = deepcopy(data0)
if len(keys)>1:
if isinstance(data,dict):
return {k:(set_by_path(v,keys[1:],value) if k==keys[0] else v) for k,v in data.items()}
if isinstance(data,list):
return [set_by_path(x[1],keys[1:],value) if x[0]==keys[0] else x[1] for x in enumerate(data)]
else:
data[keys[-1]]=value
return data
mapper:
def map_at_path(data0, keys, f):
data = deepcopy(data0)
if len(keys)>1:
if isinstance(data,dict):
return {k:(map_at_path(v,keys[1:],f) if k==keys[0] else v) for k,v in data.items()}
if isinstance(data,list):
return [map_at_path(x[1],keys[1:],f) if x[0]==keys[0] else x[1] for x in enumerate(data)]
else:
data[keys[-1]]=f(data[keys[-1]])
return data
I use this
def get_dictionary_value(dictionary_temp, variable_dictionary_keys):
try:
if(len(variable_dictionary_keys) == 0):
return str(dictionary_temp)
variable_dictionary_key = variable_dictionary_keys[0]
variable_dictionary_keys.remove(variable_dictionary_key)
return get_dictionary_value(dictionary_temp[variable_dictionary_key] , variable_dictionary_keys)
except Exception as variable_exception:
logging.error(variable_exception)
return ''
You can make use of the eval function in python.
def nested_parse(nest, map_list):
nestq = "nest['" + "']['".join(map_list) + "']"
return eval(nestq, {'__builtins__':None}, {'nest':nest})
Explanation
For your example query: maplist = ["b", "v", "y"]
nestq will be "nest['b']['v']['y']" where nest is the nested dictionary.
The eval builtin function executes the given string. However, it is important to be careful about possible vulnerabilities that arise from use of eval function. Discussion can be found here:
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201206/eval_really_is_dangerous.html
https://www.journaldev.com/22504/python-eval-function
In the nested_parse() function, I have made sure that no __builtins__ globals are available and only local variable that is available is the nest dictionary.

how do I combine N dictionaries in list of dictionaries based on matching key:value pair?

I want to achieve the following. It's essentially the composition or merging of N number of dictionaries, accumulating all data from duplicates id and appending all values(except id, updated_date) from all dictionaries in multiples data sources in the final result.
class A:
def __init__(self):
pass
def run(self):
return {"data":[{"id":"ID-2002-0201","updated_at":"2018-05-14T22:25:51Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0201"],"source":"github"},{"id":"ID-2002-0200","updated_at":"2018-05-14T21:49:15Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0200"],"source":"github"},{"id":"ID-2002-0348","updated_at":"2018-05-11T14:13:28Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0348"],"source":"github"}]}
class B:
def __init__(self):
pass
def run(self):
return {"data":[{"id":"ID-2002-0201","updated_at":"2006-03-28","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/1622"],"source":"sample"},{"id":"ID-2002-0200","updated_at":"2006-06-05","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/1880"],"source":"sample"},{"id":"ID-2002-0348","updated_at":"2007-03-09","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/3441"],"source":"sample"}]}
results = {}
data_sources = [A(),B()]
for data in data_sources:
data_stream = data.run()
for data in data_stream.get('data'):
for key, value in data.items():
if key in ['html_url']:
results.setdefault(key, []).extend(value)
elif key in ['source']:
results.setdefault(key, []).append(value)
else:
results[key] = value
print(results)
desired output
[
{
"id":"ID-2002-0201",
"updated_at":"2018-05-14T22:25:51Z",
"html_url":[
"https://github.com/ID-2002-0201",
"https://github.com/ID-2002-0202",
"https://github.com/ID-2002-0203",
"https://github.com/ID-2002-0204"
],
"source": [
"github",
"xxx",
"22aas"
]
},
]
I am a little confused because the desired output you have given does not match with the sample classes provided by you in the code. However, I think I get what you want, correct me if I interpreted your question incorrectly.
I have using your results array like a dictionary of dictionaries. The outer dictionary contains all the unique ids as keys and the inner dictionaries contain the data you wanted in your output. After the loop computes I just return the list(results.values()) to get a list of N dictionaries combined.
Here is the code:
class A:
def __init__(self):
pass
def run(self):
return {"data":[{"id":"ID-2002-0201","updated_at":"2018-05-14T22:25:51Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0201"],"source":"github"},{"id":"ID-2002-0200","updated_at":"2018-05-14T21:49:15Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0200"],"source":"github"},{"id":"ID-2002-0348","updated_at":"2018-05-11T14:13:28Z","html_url":["https://github.com/ID-2002-0348"],"source":"github"}]}
class B:
def __init__(self):
pass
def run(self):
return {"data":[{"id":"ID-2002-0201","updated_at":"2006-03-28","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/1622"],"source":"sample"},{"id":"ID-2002-0200","updated_at":"2006-06-05","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/1880"],"source":"sample"},{"id":"ID-2002-0348","updated_at":"2007-03-09","html_url":["http://sample.com/files/3441"],"source":"sample"}]}
results = {}
data_sources = [A(),B()]
for data in data_sources:
data_stream = data.run()
for data in data_stream.get('data'):
curr_id = data["id"]
result = results.setdefault(curr_id, {})
for key, value in data.items():
if key in ['html_url']:
result.setdefault(key, []).extend(value)
elif key in ['source']:
result.setdefault(key, []).append(value)
else:
result[key] = value
print(list(results.values()))

Python Dict: Get value associated with with a list of keys, where each subsequent key resides in the previous key's value [duplicate]

I have a complex dictionary structure which I would like to access via a list of keys to address the correct item.
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
maplist = ["a", "r"]
or
maplist = ["b", "v", "y"]
I have made the following code which works but I'm sure there is a better and more efficient way to do this if anyone has an idea.
# Get a given data from a dictionary with position provided as a list
def getFromDict(dataDict, mapList):
for k in mapList: dataDict = dataDict[k]
return dataDict
# Set a given data in a dictionary with position provided as a list
def setInDict(dataDict, mapList, value):
for k in mapList[:-1]: dataDict = dataDict[k]
dataDict[mapList[-1]] = value
Use reduce() to traverse the dictionary:
from functools import reduce # forward compatibility for Python 3
import operator
def getFromDict(dataDict, mapList):
return reduce(operator.getitem, mapList, dataDict)
and reuse getFromDict to find the location to store the value for setInDict():
def setInDict(dataDict, mapList, value):
getFromDict(dataDict, mapList[:-1])[mapList[-1]] = value
All but the last element in mapList is needed to find the 'parent' dictionary to add the value to, then use the last element to set the value to the right key.
Demo:
>>> getFromDict(dataDict, ["a", "r"])
1
>>> getFromDict(dataDict, ["b", "v", "y"])
2
>>> setInDict(dataDict, ["b", "v", "w"], 4)
>>> import pprint
>>> pprint.pprint(dataDict)
{'a': {'r': 1, 's': 2, 't': 3},
'b': {'u': 1, 'v': {'w': 4, 'x': 1, 'y': 2, 'z': 3}, 'w': 3}}
Note that the Python PEP8 style guide prescribes snake_case names for functions. The above works equally well for lists or a mix of dictionaries and lists, so the names should really be get_by_path() and set_by_path():
from functools import reduce # forward compatibility for Python 3
import operator
def get_by_path(root, items):
"""Access a nested object in root by item sequence."""
return reduce(operator.getitem, items, root)
def set_by_path(root, items, value):
"""Set a value in a nested object in root by item sequence."""
get_by_path(root, items[:-1])[items[-1]] = value
And for completion's sake, a function to delete a key:
def del_by_path(root, items):
"""Delete a key-value in a nested object in root by item sequence."""
del get_by_path(root, items[:-1])[items[-1]]
It seems more pythonic to use a for loop.
See the quote from What’s New In Python 3.0.
Removed reduce(). Use functools.reduce() if you really need it; however, 99 percent of the time an explicit for loop is more readable.
def nested_get(dic, keys):
for key in keys:
dic = dic[key]
return dic
def nested_set(dic, keys, value):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic.setdefault(key, {})
dic[keys[-1]] = value
def nested_del(dic, keys):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic[key]
del dic[keys[-1]]
Note that the accepted solution doesn't set non-existing nested keys (it raises KeyError). Using the approach above will create non-existing nodes instead.
The code works in both Python 2 and 3.
Using reduce is clever, but the OP's set method may have issues if the parent keys do not pre-exist in the nested dictionary. Since this is the first SO post I saw for this subject in my google search, I would like to make it slightly better.
The set method in ( Setting a value in a nested python dictionary given a list of indices and value ) seems more robust to missing parental keys. To copy it over:
def nested_set(dic, keys, value):
for key in keys[:-1]:
dic = dic.setdefault(key, {})
dic[keys[-1]] = value
Also, it can be convenient to have a method that traverses the key tree and get all the absolute key paths, for which I have created:
def keysInDict(dataDict, parent=[]):
if not isinstance(dataDict, dict):
return [tuple(parent)]
else:
return reduce(list.__add__,
[keysInDict(v,parent+[k]) for k,v in dataDict.items()], [])
One use of it is to convert the nested tree to a pandas DataFrame, using the following code (assuming that all leafs in the nested dictionary have the same depth).
def dict_to_df(dataDict):
ret = []
for k in keysInDict(dataDict):
v = np.array( getFromDict(dataDict, k), )
v = pd.DataFrame(v)
v.columns = pd.MultiIndex.from_product(list(k) + [v.columns])
ret.append(v)
return reduce(pd.DataFrame.join, ret)
This library may be helpful: https://github.com/akesterson/dpath-python
A python library for accessing and searching dictionaries via
/slashed/paths ala xpath
Basically it lets you glob over a dictionary as if it were a
filesystem.
How about using recursive functions?
To get a value:
def getFromDict(dataDict, maplist):
first, rest = maplist[0], maplist[1:]
if rest:
# if `rest` is not empty, run the function recursively
return getFromDict(dataDict[first], rest)
else:
return dataDict[first]
And to set a value:
def setInDict(dataDict, maplist, value):
first, rest = maplist[0], maplist[1:]
if rest:
try:
if not isinstance(dataDict[first], dict):
# if the key is not a dict, then make it a dict
dataDict[first] = {}
except KeyError:
# if key doesn't exist, create one
dataDict[first] = {}
setInDict(dataDict[first], rest, value)
else:
dataDict[first] = value
Solved this with recursion:
def get(d,l):
if len(l)==1: return d[l[0]]
return get(d[l[0]],l[1:])
Using your example:
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
maplist1 = ["a", "r"]
maplist2 = ["b", "v", "y"]
print(get(dataDict, maplist1)) # 1
print(get(dataDict, maplist2)) # 2
Instead of taking a performance hit each time you want to look up a value, how about you flatten the dictionary once then simply look up the key like b:v:y
def flatten(mydict,sep = ':'):
new_dict = {}
for key,value in mydict.items():
if isinstance(value,dict):
_dict = {sep.join([key, _key]):_value for _key, _value in flatten(value).items()}
new_dict.update(_dict)
else:
new_dict[key]=value
return new_dict
dataDict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
flat_dict = flatten(dataDict)
print flat_dict
{'b:w': 3, 'b:u': 1, 'b:v:y': 2, 'b:v:x': 1, 'b:v:z': 3, 'a:r': 1, 'a:s': 2, 'a:t': 3}
This way you can simply look up items using flat_dict['b:v:y'] which will give you 1.
And instead of traversing the dictionary on each lookup, you may be able to speed this up by flattening the dictionary and saving the output so that a lookup from cold start would mean loading up the flattened dictionary and simply performing a key/value lookup with no traversal.
Check out NestedDict from the ndicts package (I am the author), it does exactly what you ask for.
from ndicts import NestedDict
data_dict = {
"a":{
"r": 1,
"s": 2,
"t": 3
},
"b":{
"u": 1,
"v": {
"x": 1,
"y": 2,
"z": 3
},
"w": 3
}
}
nd = NestedDict(data_dict)
You can now access keys using comma separated values.
>>> nd["a", "r"]
1
>>> nd["b", "v"]
{"x": 1, "y": 2, "z": 3}
Pure Python style, without any import:
def nested_set(element, value, *keys):
if type(element) is not dict:
raise AttributeError('nested_set() expects dict as first argument.')
if len(keys) < 2:
raise AttributeError('nested_set() expects at least three arguments, not enough given.')
_keys = keys[:-1]
_element = element
for key in _keys:
_element = _element[key]
_element[keys[-1]] = value
example = {"foo": { "bar": { "baz": "ok" } } }
keys = ['foo', 'bar']
nested_set(example, "yay", *keys)
print(example)
Output
{'foo': {'bar': 'yay'}}
An alternative way if you don't want to raise errors if one of the keys is absent (so that your main code can run without interruption):
def get_value(self,your_dict,*keys):
curr_dict_ = your_dict
for k in keys:
v = curr_dict.get(k,None)
if v is None:
break
if isinstance(v,dict):
curr_dict = v
return v
In this case, if any of the input keys is not present, None is returned, which can be used as a check in your main code to perform an alternative task.
It's satisfying to see these answers for having two static methods for setting & getting nested attributes. These solutions are way better than using nested trees https://gist.github.com/hrldcpr/2012250
Here's my implementation.
Usage:
To set nested attribute call sattr(my_dict, 1, 2, 3, 5) is equal to my_dict[1][2][3][4]=5
To get a nested attribute call gattr(my_dict, 1, 2)
def gattr(d, *attrs):
"""
This method receives a dict and list of attributes to return the innermost value of the give dict
"""
try:
for at in attrs:
d = d[at]
return d
except(KeyError, TypeError):
return None
def sattr(d, *attrs):
"""
Adds "val" to dict in the hierarchy mentioned via *attrs
For ex:
sattr(animals, "cat", "leg","fingers", 4) is equivalent to animals["cat"]["leg"]["fingers"]=4
This method creates necessary objects until it reaches the final depth
This behaviour is also known as autovivification and plenty of implementation are around
This implementation addresses the corner case of replacing existing primitives
https://gist.github.com/hrldcpr/2012250#gistcomment-1779319
"""
for attr in attrs[:-2]:
if type(d.get(attr)) is not dict:
d[attr] = {}
d = d[attr]
d[attrs[-2]] = attrs[-1]
You can use pydash:
import pydash as _
_.get(dataDict, ["b", "v", "y"], default='Default')
https://pydash.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api.html
If you also want the ability to work with arbitrary json including nested lists and dicts, and nicely handle invalid lookup paths, here's my solution:
from functools import reduce
def get_furthest(s, path):
'''
Gets the furthest value along a given key path in a subscriptable structure.
subscriptable, list -> any
:param s: the subscriptable structure to examine
:param path: the lookup path to follow
:return: a tuple of the value at the furthest valid key, and whether the full path is valid
'''
def step_key(acc, key):
s = acc[0]
if isinstance(s, str):
return (s, False)
try:
return (s[key], acc[1])
except LookupError:
return (s, False)
return reduce(step_key, path, (s, True))
def get_val(s, path):
val, successful = get_furthest(s, path)
if successful:
return val
else:
raise LookupError('Invalid lookup path: {}'.format(path))
def set_val(s, path, value):
get_val(s, path[:-1])[path[-1]] = value
How about check and then set dict element without processing all indexes twice?
Solution:
def nested_yield(nested, keys_list):
"""
Get current nested data by send(None) method. Allows change it to Value by calling send(Value) next time
:param nested: list or dict of lists or dicts
:param keys_list: list of indexes/keys
"""
if not len(keys_list): # assign to 1st level list
if isinstance(nested, list):
while True:
nested[:] = yield nested
else:
raise IndexError('Only lists can take element without key')
last_key = keys_list.pop()
for key in keys_list:
nested = nested[key]
while True:
try:
nested[last_key] = yield nested[last_key]
except IndexError as e:
print('no index {} in {}'.format(last_key, nested))
yield None
Example workflow:
ny = nested_yield(nested_dict, nested_address)
data_element = ny.send(None)
if data_element:
# process element
...
else:
# extend/update nested data
ny.send(new_data_element)
...
ny.close()
Test
>>> cfg= {'Options': [[1,[0]],[2,[4,[8,16]]],[3,[9]]]}
ny = nested_yield(cfg, ['Options',1,1,1])
ny.send(None)
[8, 16]
>>> ny.send('Hello!')
'Hello!'
>>> cfg
{'Options': [[1, [0]], [2, [4, 'Hello!']], [3, [9]]]}
>>> ny.close()
Very late to the party, but posting in case this may help someone in the future. For my use case, the following function worked the best. Works to pull any data type out of dictionary
dict is the dictionary containing our value
list is a list of "steps" towards our value
def getnestedvalue(dict, list):
length = len(list)
try:
for depth, key in enumerate(list):
if depth == length - 1:
output = dict[key]
return output
dict = dict[key]
except (KeyError, TypeError):
return None
return None
I'd rather use simple recursion function:
def get_value_by_path(data, maplist):
if not maplist:
return data
for key in maplist:
if key in data:
return get_value_by_path(data[key], maplist[1:])
a method for concatenating strings:
def get_sub_object_from_path(dict_name, map_list):
for i in map_list:
_string = "['%s']" % i
dict_name += _string
value = eval(dict_name)
return value
#Sample:
_dict = {'new': 'person', 'time': {'for': 'one'}}
map_list = ['time', 'for']
print get_sub_object_from_path("_dict",map_list)
#Output:
#one
Extending #DomTomCat and others' approach, these functional (ie, return modified data via deepcopy without affecting the input) setter and mapper works for nested dict and list.
setter:
def set_at_path(data0, keys, value):
data = deepcopy(data0)
if len(keys)>1:
if isinstance(data,dict):
return {k:(set_by_path(v,keys[1:],value) if k==keys[0] else v) for k,v in data.items()}
if isinstance(data,list):
return [set_by_path(x[1],keys[1:],value) if x[0]==keys[0] else x[1] for x in enumerate(data)]
else:
data[keys[-1]]=value
return data
mapper:
def map_at_path(data0, keys, f):
data = deepcopy(data0)
if len(keys)>1:
if isinstance(data,dict):
return {k:(map_at_path(v,keys[1:],f) if k==keys[0] else v) for k,v in data.items()}
if isinstance(data,list):
return [map_at_path(x[1],keys[1:],f) if x[0]==keys[0] else x[1] for x in enumerate(data)]
else:
data[keys[-1]]=f(data[keys[-1]])
return data
I use this
def get_dictionary_value(dictionary_temp, variable_dictionary_keys):
try:
if(len(variable_dictionary_keys) == 0):
return str(dictionary_temp)
variable_dictionary_key = variable_dictionary_keys[0]
variable_dictionary_keys.remove(variable_dictionary_key)
return get_dictionary_value(dictionary_temp[variable_dictionary_key] , variable_dictionary_keys)
except Exception as variable_exception:
logging.error(variable_exception)
return ''
You can make use of the eval function in python.
def nested_parse(nest, map_list):
nestq = "nest['" + "']['".join(map_list) + "']"
return eval(nestq, {'__builtins__':None}, {'nest':nest})
Explanation
For your example query: maplist = ["b", "v", "y"]
nestq will be "nest['b']['v']['y']" where nest is the nested dictionary.
The eval builtin function executes the given string. However, it is important to be careful about possible vulnerabilities that arise from use of eval function. Discussion can be found here:
https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201206/eval_really_is_dangerous.html
https://www.journaldev.com/22504/python-eval-function
In the nested_parse() function, I have made sure that no __builtins__ globals are available and only local variable that is available is the nest dictionary.

Accessing Python Dictionarys with ["key","key2"]

I am developing a python utility. Part of this is to generate an index of files
Is it possible within python to access a multidimensional dictionary dynamically without knowing the depth.
ie if i had the example data:
example = {'main': {'2': {'2': '2-2', '1': '2-1'}, '1': {'2': '1-2', '1': '1-1'}}}
Is there a way i can access elements with something similar to
example["main","2","1"] and it return 2-1?
I am aware i can write my own diving algorithms but my experience shows you cannot then write to the value.
If you absolutely positively need to do it that way, you'll need to roll your own dict class. Luckily you can inherit everything but __getitem__ from dict.
class MyDict(dict):
def __getitem__(self, keys):
if isinstance(keys, str):
# this special-case saves you if you try to do normal indexing
# on a string.
return super().__getitem__(keys)
cur = self
for key in keys:
cur = cur.get(key, {})
# the default option here returns an empty dict instead
# of raising a KeyError. That might not be what you want
return cur
Note that this removes your ability to key by tuple, so key/vals like {("some", "tuple", "values"): "any value"} will be inaccessible unless specifically coded for. That might look something like...
...
for i, key in enumerate(keys):
if keys[i:] in cur:
return cur[keys[i:]]
cur = cur.get(key, {})
You can then cast your mapping to this new dict and search that way.
example = {'main': {'2': {'2': '2-2', '1': '2-1'}, '1': {'2': '1-2', '1': '1-1'}}}
result = MyDict2(example)['2', '2', '1']
You mention having to set values by this as well, in which case also inherit __setitem__.
class MyDict(dict):
def __getitem__(self, keys):
# as above
def __setitem__(self, keys, value):
if isinstance(keys, str):
super().__setitem__(keys, value)
cur = self
for key in keys[:-1]:
cur = cur.setdefault(key, {})
cur[keys[-1]] = value
You can also wrap the idea proposed by #Arya in a derived dict class, e.g.:
class ListAccess(dict):
def __getitem__(self, item):
if type(item) in [tuple,list]:
item = list(item)
ret = self
while True:
try:
ret = ret[item.pop(0)]
except IndexError:
break
return ret
else:
return super(ListAccess, self).__getitem__(item)
store = ListAccess({'main': {'2': {'2': '2-2', '1': '2-1'}, '1': {'2': '1-2', '1': '1-1'}}})
print store['main','2','1']
You can make a function like this:
def get_item(d, keys):
current = d
for k in keys:
current = current[k] # You can add some error handling here
return current
Example of usage: https://repl.it/E49o/1
If you want to modify the value at the last index, you can do something like this.
def set_item(d, keys, new_value):
current = d
for k in keys[:-1]: # All the keys except the last one
current = current[k]
current[keys[-1]] = new_value

Creating dynamic nested dictionary of counts

I have a text file abc.txt:
abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:pass
abc/pqr/lmn/bcd:pass
I need to parse these statements and output should be in nested dictionary as below:
{'abc':{'pqr':{'lmn':{'xyz':{'pass':1},{'bcd':{'pass':1}}}}}}
where 1 is 'pass' count.
I'm able to do as much as this:
import re
d={}
p=re.compile('[a-zA-z]+')
for line in open('abc.txt'):
for key in p.findall(line):
d['key']={}
Check out the setdefault method on dictionaries.
d = {}
d.setdefault('pqr', {}).setdefault('lmn', {}).setdefault('xyz', {})['pass'] = 1
d.setdefault('pqr', {}).setdefault('lmn', {}).setdefault('bcd', {})['pass'] = 1
d
gives
{'pqr': {'lmn': {'bcd': {'pass': 1}, 'xyz': {'pass': 1}}}}
Here's an updated version of my answer in which leaves of the tree data-structure are now different from those in rest of it. Instead of the tree being strictly a dict-of-nested-dicts, the "leaves" on each branch are now instances of a different subclass of dict named collections.Counter which are useful for counting the number of times each of their keys occur. I did this because of your response to my question about what should happen if the last part of each line was something other than ":pass" (which was "we have to put new count for that key").
Nested dictionaries are often called Tree data-structures and can be defined recursively — the root is a dictionary as are the branches. The following uses a dict subclass instead of a plain dict because it makes constructing them easier since you don't need to special case the creation of the first branch of next level down (except I still do when adding the "leaves" because they are a different subclass, collections.Counter).
from collections import Counter
from functools import reduce
import re
# (Optional) trick to make Counter subclass print like a regular dict.
class Counter(Counter):
def __repr__(self):
return dict(self).__repr__()
# Borrowed from answer # https://stackoverflow.com/a/19829714/355230
class Tree(dict):
def __missing__(self, key):
value = self[key] = type(self)()
return value
# Utility functions based on answer # https://stackoverflow.com/a/14692747/355230
def nested_dict_get(nested_dict, keys):
return reduce(lambda d, k: d[k], keys, nested_dict)
def nested_dict_set(nested_dict, keys, value):
nested_dict_get(nested_dict, keys[:-1])[keys[-1]] = value
def nested_dict_update_count(nested_dict, keys):
counter = nested_dict_get(nested_dict, keys[:-1])
if counter: # Update existing Counter.
counter.update([keys[-1]])
else: # Create a new Counter.
nested_dict_set(nested_dict, keys[:-1], Counter([keys[-1]]))
d = Tree()
pat = re.compile(r'[a-zA-z]+')
with open('abc.txt') as file:
for line in file:
nested_dict_update_count(d, [w for w in pat.findall(line.rstrip())])
print(d) # Prints like a regular dict.
To test the leaf-counting capabilities of the revised code, I used the following test file which includes the same line twice, once ending again with :pass and another ending in :fail.
Expanded abc.txt test file:
abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:pass
abc/pqr/lmn/bcd:pass
abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:fail
abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:pass
Output:
{'abc': {'pqr': {'lmn': {'bcd': {'pass': 1}, 'xyz': {'fail': 1, 'pass': 2}}}}}
If i understand your question:
sources = ["abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:pass", "abc/pqr/lmn/bcd:pass", "abc/pqr/lmn/xyz:pass"]
def prepare_source(source):
path, value = source.split(':')
elements = path.split('/')
return elements, value
def add_key(elements, value):
result = dict()
if len(elements) > 1:
result[elements[0]] = add_key(elements[1:], value)
else:
result[elements[0]] = {value: 1}
return result
# base merge function get from here:
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7204805/dictionaries-of-dictionaries-merge
def merge(a, b, path=None):
"merges b into a"
if path is None: path = []
for key in b:
if key in a:
if isinstance(a[key], dict) and isinstance(b[key], dict):
merge(a[key], b[key], path + [str(key)])
elif isinstance(a[key], int) and isinstance(b[key], int):
a[key] += b[key]
else:
raise Exception('Conflict at %s' % '.'.join(path + [str(key)]))
else:
a[key] = b[key]
return a
result = dict()
for source in sources:
result = merge(result, add_key(*prepare_source(source)))
print result
Output will be:
{'abc': {'pqr': {'lmn': {'bcd': {'pass': 1}, 'xyz': {'pass': 2}}}}}

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