Dictionaries are a fundamental data structure in Python, allowing you to store key-value pairs for efficient data retrieval. Here's a quick guide:

📝 Key Concepts

  • Keys are unique identifiers (e.g., strings, numbers)
  • Values can be any data type (e.g., integers, lists, tuples)
  • Dictionaries are unordered (as of Python 3.7, insertion order is preserved)

🔧 Basic Operations

# Create a dictionary
my_dict = {"name": "Python", "version": 3.10}

# Access values
print(my_dict["name"])  # Output: Python

# Modify values
my_dict["version"] = 3.11

# Add new key-value pairs
my_dict["features"] = "Dynamic typing"

# Check existence
if "name" in my_dict:
    print("Dictionary exists")

📌 Common Methods

Method Description
keys() Returns all keys
values() Returns all values
items() Returns key-value pairs
get(key) Safely retrieves a value
pop(key) Removes a key-value pair

🧠 Practical Tips

  • Use dictionaries for fast lookups (O(1) time complexity)
  • Avoid duplicate keys (later values will overwrite earlier ones)
  • Combine with loops for advanced data processing

For deeper exploration, check our Python Dictionary Methods tutorial.

python_dictionaries

Want to learn about nested dictionaries or dictionary comprehensions? Click here to continue your journey!