Reference library

Dictionaries & sets

Key–value maps, uniqueness, counting, grouping, and fast lookups.

32 matches
Dictionaries & sets easy

How to Use Dictionaries and Sets in Python for Beginners

Introduces Python dictionaries and sets with practical examples including creating, modifying, and performing set operations, plus a word-frequency counter.

dictionaries sets data structures
Python
def demonstrate_dict_sets():
    # Create a dictionary with basic info
    person = {
        "name": "Alice",
        "age": 30,
        "city": "New York"
    }
    print("Dictionary:", person)

    # Access and modify dictionary values
    person["age"] = 31
    person["email"] = "alice@example.com"
    print("Afte…
15 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

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.

frozenset dictionary hashable
Python
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)}")
13 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

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.

defaultdict sets dictionaries
Python
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…
15 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

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.

dictionaries sets text-processing
Python
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…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

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.

dictionary set text-processing
Python
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…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

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.

dict-merge set-union unpacking
Python
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…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Text Processor with Dictionaries and Sets in Python

Build a simple text processor that counts word frequencies with a dictionary and tracks unique words with a set.

dictionary set word-count
Python
def analyze_text(text):
    words = text.lower().split()
    word_freq = {}
    unique_words = set()
    
    for word in words:
        clean_word = word.strip('.,!?;:')
        if clean_word:
            word_freq[clean_word] = word_freq.get(clean_word, 0) + 1
            unique_words.add(clean_word)
    
    return…
12 0 Open
Dictionaries & sets easy

Validate dictionary data with sets in Python

Validate a dictionary against required keys and allowed value sets, returning a list of validation errors.

dictionaries sets validation
Python
def validate_data(data, required_keys, allowed_values=None):
    """
    Validate a dictionary against required keys and optional allowed value sets.
    Returns a list of validation errors (empty list if valid).
    """
    errors = []
    
    # Check for missing required keys
    missing = set(required_keys) - set(…
15 0 Open

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.