Dictionary in Python

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What is dictionary?

  • A dictionary is an ordered collection.
  • Dictionary is Mutable(changeable).
  • Dictionary elements are key-value pairs.
  • A Dictionary in python is declared by enclosing a comma-separated list of key-value pairs using curly braces(“{}”).
    • Key: Keys is an object and single value.
    • Values: Values can be a list or nested list, numbers, etc.
  • That means more than one element will be present in values
  • Set stores the elements directly
    • set = {ele1 , ele2 , ele3 ….}
  • While the Dictionary stores elements using keys.
    • dict = {key : ele ,  key : ele ,  key : ele }

Differences between List, Set and Dictionary:

  • List, Set and Dictionary are Mutable objects
  • List can store Mutable and Immutable objects
  • Set can store only Immutable objects
  • Dictionary Keys must be Immutable where as Values can be Mutable or Immutable.
  • List and Dictionary objects are ordered collections
  • Set is not ordered.
  • List can be used to work with simple set of objects.
  • Dictionary is used to work with set of duplicate elements with unique keys

Dictionary is an ordered collection.

emp = {101:"amar", 102:"annie", 103:"hareen"}
print("Dictionary :", emp)

Output:

Dictionary : {101: 'amar', 102: 'annie', 103: 'hareen'}
  • Elements can be heterogeneous.
  • Keys can be heterogeneous
d = {10:"abc", "xyz":2.34, 1.23:None}
print(d)

Output:
{10: 'abc', 'xyz': 2.34, 1.23: None}
  • Keys must be unique.
  • When we store the data using duplicate key, existing data will be replaced.
accounts ={101:"harin", 102:"kiritin", 102:"ramya"}
print(accounts)
  • Elements can be duplicated.
  • for example, in Banking application, we process the accounts using account numbers.
  • Account numbers are unique (keys)
  • Account data can be duplicates (name, pin, balance….)
accounts ={101:"harin", 102:"kiritin", 103:"harin"}
print(accounts)
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