Dictionaries & sets
Key–value maps, uniqueness, counting, grouping, and fast lookups.
How to Use a Frozenset as a Dict Key in Python
Demonstrates using an immutable frozenset as a hashable dictionary key, including equality and lookup with differently-ordered elements.
frozen = frozenset({"a", "b", "c"})
mapping = {frozen: "set as hashable key"}
other_frozen = frozenset(["c", "b", "a"])
print(f"Are keys equal? {frozen == other_frozen}")
print(f"Lookup with different order: {mapping[other_frozen]}")
print(f"Hash matches: {hash(frozen) == hash(other_frozen)}")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 Use defaultdict(set) in Python to Group Unique Values
Group key-value pairs into a dictionary of sets, automatically creating a new set for each key using defaultdict.
from collections import defaultdict
def track_groups(pairs):
groups = defaultdict(set)
for key, value in pairs:
groups[key].add(value)
return groups
if __name__ == "__main__":
data = [
("fruit", "apple"),
("fruit", "banana"),
("fruit", "apple"),
("veg", "carrot…How to Validate JSON Types per Key in Python
Load a JSON object and validate the type of each key against an expected schema, reporting missing or mismatched fields.
import json
from typing import Any, Dict, Type
def validate_json_types(data: Dict[str, Any], schema: Dict[str, Type]) -> Dict[str, str]:
"""Validate that each key in data matches the expected type in schema."""
errors = {}
for key, expected_type in schema.items():
if key not in data:
e…How to Validate Required Dict Keys in Python
Check whether a dictionary contains all required keys and return the list of missing ones using a simple list comprehension.
def find_missing_keys(data: dict, required_keys: list) -> list:
"""Return a list of required keys that are missing from the dictionary."""
return [key for key in required_keys if key not in data]
if __name__ == "__main__":
user_data = {
"name": "Alice",
"email": "alice@example.com",
…How to Validate Text and Count Words in Python
Count word frequencies, find unique and repeated words in a text using Python dictionaries and sets for beginner text validation.
def validate_text(text):
words = text.lower().split()
word_counts = {}
for word in words:
cleaned = word.strip('.,!?;:"\'')
if cleaned:
word_counts[cleaned] = word_counts.get(cleaned, 0) + 1
unique_words = set(word_counts.keys())
repeated_words = {word for word…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…How to count words and find unique words in Python
Build a beginner-friendly text processor that counts word frequencies, finds unique words, and identifies words with vowels using dictionaries and sets.
def text_processor(text):
words = text.lower().replace(",", "").replace(".", "").split()
word_count = {}
for word in words:
word_count[word] = word_count.get(word, 0) + 1
unique_words = set(words)
vowels = set("aeiou")
words_with_vowels = {word for word in unique_words if vowe…How to merge dictionaries and sets in Python
Merges multiple dictionaries with the ** unpacking operator and combines sets using union operations into a single structure.
def merge_dictionaries_and_sets(school_dict, teacher_dict, course_dict, student_sets):
"""
Merges multiple dictionaries and sets into a single combined structure.
Demonstrates dict unpacking and set union operations.
"""
# Merge all dictionaries using the unpacking operator (Python 3.9+)
merged…How to swap dict keys and values in Python when values are unique
Swap dict keys and values using a dict comprehension, with a guard that raises an error when values repeat.
def swap_dict_keys_values(d):
"""Swap keys and values in a dict, assuming values are unique."""
if len(set(d.values())) != len(d.values()):
raise ValueError("Values must be unique to swap keys and values")
return {v: k for k, v in d.items()}
if __name__ == "__main__":
original = {"a": 1, "b": …Browse by section
Each section groups closely related Python snippets.
Dictionaries & sets — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects dictionaries & sets snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
Samples vs tutorials and challenges
Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.