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How to Group a List of Dictionaries by Key in Python
Group a list of dictionaries by a specified key field using dict.setdefault to build a dictionary of lists.
def group_by_key(records, key):
grouped = {}
for record in records:
grouped.setdefault(record[key], []).append(record)
return grouped
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [
{"name": "Alice", "dept": "engineering"},
{"name": "Bob", "dept": "sales"},
{"name": "Carol", "dept"…How to Parse Data Into Dictionaries and Sets in Python
Parses raw student strings into a dictionary of lists and finds unique courses using a set.
from collections import defaultdict
def parse_students(raw_data):
"""Parse raw student strings into a dictionary of lists."""
parsed = defaultdict(list)
for entry in raw_data:
name, _, course = entry.partition(":")
parsed[course.strip()].append(name.strip())
return dict(parsed)
def fi…How to Parse Query String to Dict with Duplicate Keys in Python
Convert a URL query string into a Python dictionary, merging duplicate keys into lists while keeping single values as scalars.
from urllib.parse import parse_qs
def parse_query_to_dict(query_string):
parsed = parse_qs(query_string, keep_blank_values=True)
return {key: values if len(values) > 1 else values[0] for key, values in parsed.items()}
if __name__ == "__main__":
query = "name=John&name=Jane&age=30&city=&city=Paris&empty…How to Recursively Remove None Values from Nested Dictionaries in Python
Recursively removes all None values from nested dictionaries and lists while preserving non-None data.
def prune_none(obj):
if isinstance(obj, dict):
return {
k: prune_none(v)
for k, v in obj.items()
if v is not None and prune_none(v) is not None
}
elif isinstance(obj, list):
pruned = [prune_none(item) for item in obj]
pruned = [item for item i…How to Use defaultdict(list) to Group Words by First Letter in Python
This code groups a list of words by their first letter using a defaultdict with a list factory, then prints each group sorted by initial.
from collections import defaultdict
def group_by_initial(words):
groups = defaultdict(list)
for word in words:
groups[word[0].upper()].append(word)
return dict(groups)
if __name__ == "__main__":
words = ["apple", "banana", "apricot", "blueberry", "cherry"]
result = group_by_initial(words)…How to convert string values to int or float in Python dicts
Recursively convert string values in nested dicts and lists to ints or floats when possible, leaving other strings untouched.
def coerce_str_values(data):
"""Recursively convert string values that look like ints or floats."""
if isinstance(data, dict):
return {key: coerce_str_values(val) for key, val in data.items()}
elif isinstance(data, list):
return [coerce_str_values(item) for item in data]
elif isinstance…Traverse Nested Dict Paths Depth-First in Python
Recursively walk a nested dictionary depth-first and yield each full path from root to leaf as lists.
def depth_first_paths(node, path=None):
if path is None:
path = []
if not isinstance(node, dict):
yield path + [node]
return
for key, value in node.items():
new_path = path + [key]
if isinstance(value, dict):
yield from depth_first_paths(value, …Filtering data with a Python class helper
A beginner-friendly DataFilter class that filters lists of dictionaries by exact match, greater-than, and substring conditions.
class DataFilter:
"""A beginner-friendly helper to filter lists of dictionaries."""
def __init__(self, data):
self.data = data
def filter_by(self, key, value):
"""Return items where data[key] == value."""
return [item for item in self.data if item.get(key) == value]
…Graph Class with Adjacency Dict in Python
Build an undirected graph class using a dictionary of adjacency lists with methods to add vertices, edges, remove edges, and query neighbors.
class Graph:
def __init__(self):
self.adjacency = {}
def add_vertex(self, vertex):
if vertex not in self.adjacency:
self.adjacency[vertex] = []
def add_edge(self, u, v):
self.add_vertex(u)
self.add_vertex(v)
self.adjacency[u].append(v)
self.adja…How to Create a Data Formatter Class in Python
A beginner-friendly helper class to format lists, dictionaries, and stored records into readable strings.
class DataFormatter:
"""Helper class for beginners to format common data types."""
def __init__(self, name="data"):
self.name = name
self.records = []
def add_record(self, key, value):
"""Add a key-value record to the formatter."""
self.records.append({"key": key, …Find Common Elements in List of Lists in Python
Return elements that appear in every sublist of a nested list, preserving duplicates with Counter intersection.
from collections import Counter
def common_elements(list_of_lists):
"""Return elements present in every sublist."""
if not list_of_lists:
return []
counts = Counter(list_of_lists[0])
for sublist in list_of_lists[1:]:
counts &= Counter(sublist)
return list(counts.elements())
if _…Generate Pascal's Triangle Rows in Python
Builds Pascal's triangle as a list of rows, where each inner value is the sum of the two values above it.
def generate_pascals_triangle(rows):
triangle = []
for row_num in range(rows):
row = [1] * (row_num + 1)
for col in range(1, row_num):
row[col] = triangle[row_num - 1][col - 1] + triangle[row_num - 1][col]
triangle.append(row)
return triangle
if __name__ == "__main__":
…How to Add Two Lists Elementwise in Python
Add two equal-length lists element by element using a list comprehension with zip, returning a new list of summed values.
def elementwise_add(list1, list2):
return [a + b for a, b in zip(list1, list2)]
if __name__ == "__main__":
list_a = [1, 2, 3, 4]
list_b = [10, 20, 30, 40]
result = elementwise_add(list_a, list_b)
print(result)How to Compare Two Lists Elementwise for Greater Flags in Python
Compare two equal-length lists element by element and return a list of booleans marking where list_a values are greater than list_b values.
def compare_lists_greater(list_a, list_b):
"""
Compare two lists elementwise and return a list of booleans
indicating whether each element in list_a is greater than the
corresponding element in list_b.
"""
if len(list_a) != len(list_b):
raise ValueError("Lists must have the same length"…How to Compute Jaccard Similarity in Python
Compute the Jaccard similarity between two lists by converting them to sets and dividing the intersection size by the union size.
def jaccard_similarity(list1, list2):
set1 = set(list1)
set2 = set(list2)
intersection = set1 & set2
union = set1 | set2
if not union:
return 0.0
return len(intersection) / len(union)
if __name__ == "__main__":
a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
b = [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
pri…How to Compute the Cartesian Product of Two Lists in Python
Generates all ordered pairs from two lists using itertools.product and prints each combination.
from itertools import product
# Two small input lists
list_a = [1, 2, 3]
list_b = ["x", "y"]
# Compute the Cartesian product
result = list(product(list_a, list_b))
# Display the result
print("Cartesian product of", list_a, "and", list_b, "is:")
for pair in result:
print(pair)How to Compute the Dot Product of Two Lists in Python
Compute the dot product of two equal-length numeric lists using a generator expression with zip and sum.
def dot_product(list1, list2):
"""
Compute the dot product of two numeric lists.
The lists must have the same length.
"""
if len(list1) != len(list2):
raise ValueError("Lists must have the same length")
return sum(a * b for a, b in zip(list1, list2))
if __name__ == "__main__":
…How to Evaluate RPN Expressions in Python
Use a stack to evaluate Reverse Polish Notation token lists with a dictionary of operator lambdas, truncating division toward zero.
def eval_rpn(tokens):
stack = []
ops = {
'+': lambda a, b: a + b,
'-': lambda a, b: a - b,
'*': lambda a, b: a * b,
'/': lambda a, b: int(a / b) # truncate toward zero
}
for token in tokens:
if token in ops:
b = stack.pop()
a = stack.pop(…How to Find Intersection of Two Sorted Interval Lists in Python
A two-pointer algorithm that finds all overlapping intervals between two sorted lists of intervals.
def interval_intersection(list1, list2):
i = j = 0
result = []
while i < len(list1) and j < len(list2):
# Find the overlap between current intervals
lo = max(list1[i][0], list2[j][0])
hi = min(list1[i][1], list2[j][1])
# If there's an overlap, add it to result
…How to Find the Previous Smaller Element in Python
Use a monotonic stack to find the nearest smaller element to the left of each item in a list, returning -1 when none exists.
from collections import deque
def previous_smaller_elements(arr):
stack = deque()
result = [-1] * len(arr)
for i in range(len(arr)):
while stack and arr[stack[-1]] >= arr[i]:
stack.pop()
if stack:
result[i] = arr[stack[-1]]
stack.append(i)
return resul…How to Flatten List of Dict Values in Python
This code flattens the values of a list of dictionaries into a single list, handling both list values and scalar values.
def flatten_dict_values(dicts):
flattened = []
for d in dicts:
for value in d.values():
if isinstance(value, list):
flattened.extend(value)
else:
flattened.append(value)
return flattened
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [
{"a": …How to Implement a Recent Counter with a Deque in Python
Implements a RecentCounter class that uses a deque to count ping requests within the last 3000 milliseconds.
from collections import deque
import time
class RecentCounter:
def __init__(self):
self.hits = deque()
def ping(self, t: int) -> int:
self.hits.append(t)
while self.hits and self.hits[0] < t - 3000:
self.hits.popleft()
return len(self.hits)
if __name__ == "__mai…How to Split a List by a Predicate into Two Lists in Python
Partition any Python list into two lists based on a predicate: items that match go into one list, everything else into the other.
from typing import Callable, List, TypeVar
T = TypeVar("T")
def split_by_predicate(items: List[T], predicate: Callable[[T], bool]) -> tuple[List[T], List[T]]:
matching = []
non_matching = []
for item in items:
if predicate(item):
matching.append(item)
else:
non_mat…Merge k sorted lists in Python using a heap
Merge k individually sorted lists into one sorted list in Python using a min-heap.
import heapq
def merge_k_sorted_lists(lists):
heap = []
# Push the first element of each list onto the heap
for i, lst in enumerate(lists):
if lst:
heapq.heappush(heap, (lst[0], i, 0))
result = []
while heap:
val, list_idx, elem_idx = heapq.heappop(heap)
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