Python 3 – dictionary get() Method
In Python, dictionaries are very useful data structures that allow us to store and manipulate data in a flexible way. One of the most commonly used methods for dictionaries is the get() method. This method allows us to retrieve a value from a dictionary without raising an error if the key is not found.
Syntax
The syntax for the get() method is as follows:
dictionary.get(key, default=None)
Here, dictionary
is the dictionary you want to look up a value in, key
is the key you want to retrieve the value for, and default
is the value to return if the key is not found in the dictionary.
If the key is found in the dictionary, the method will return the value associated with that key. If the key is not found, the method will return the default value specified in the second argument (or None
if no default value is provided).
Example
Here is an example of how to use the get() method in Python 3:
# Define a dictionary
my_dict = {'apple': 1, 'banana': 2, 'orange': 3}
# Try to access a key that exists in the dictionary
print(my_dict.get('apple', 'not found')) # Output: 1
# Try to access a key that does not exist in the dictionary
print(my_dict.get('grape', 'not found')) # Output: not found
# Try to access a key that does not exist in the dictionary without specifying the default value
print(my_dict.get('grape')) # Output: None
In this example, we define a dictionary called my_dict
. We then use the get() method to retrieve the value associated with the apple
key. Since apple
is a key that exists in the dictionary, the method returns the associated value of 1
.
We then use the get() method to try to retrieve the value associated with the grape
key. Since grape
is not a key that exists in the dictionary, the method returns the default value of not found
, which we specified as the second argument.
Finally, we use the get() method to try to retrieve the value associated with the grape
key again, but this time we do not specify a default value. Since grape
is not a key that exists in the dictionary and no default value is provided, the method returns None
.
Code Language
The code used in the example above is written in Python.
Conclusion
The use of Python 3 dictionary get() method can be very helpful in many programming situations. This method can help avoid errors while trying to access dictionary items that don’t exit by providing a default output where such items can’t be found. The get() method is very easy to use and provides flexibility for dealing with dictionary items in Python.