how to get all keys&values in nested dict of list-of-dicts and dicts?

Question

{'action_name':'mobile signup',
    'functions':[{'name':'test_signUp',
                  'parameters':{'username':'max@getappcard.com',
                                'password':'12345',
                                'mobileLater':'123454231',
                                'mobile':'1e2w1e2w',
                                'card':'1232313',
                                'cardLater':'1234321234321'}}],
    'validations':[
            {'MOB_header':'My stores'},
            {'url':"/stores/my"}]}

I want to get all the keys & values of this dict as a list (out of values that they are dict or array)

print result should be like this:

action name = mobile signup
name = test_signUp
username : max@getappcard.com
password : 12345
mobileLater: 123454231
mobile : 1e2w1e2w
card : 1232313 
cardLater : 1234321234321
MOB_header : My stores

Maybe [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1679384/converting-python-dictionary-to-list) will help? — Hindol, May 13 '12 at 06:05
For full generality, you should use `else:` instead of `elif isinstance(value, str):`. — huon, May 13 '12 at 06:43
there is one problem here: if you have nested entries with the same key, they will overwrite each other. hopefully that's nto a problem here, but you should be aware. — Jeff Tratner, May 13 '12 at 17:30
known issue. my purpose is not to add to dict, but only to run function on each of the key+value and then update the dictIn itself. — eligro, May 14 '12 at 02:18

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 16 '13 at 16:48

9

You might want to use a recursive function to extract all the key, value pairs.

def extract(dict_in, dict_out):
    for key, value in dict_in.iteritems():
        if isinstance(value, dict): # If value itself is dictionary
            extract(value, dict_out)
        elif isinstance(value, unicode):
            # Write to dict_out
            dict_out[key] = value
    return dict_out

Something of this sort. I come from C++ background so I had to google for all the syntaxes.

edited Aug 16 '13 at 16:48

Jamie Bull

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answered May 13 '12 at 06:08

Hindol

2,924
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1

It might be better to replace the line `elif isinstance(value, unicode):` with `else:`. – SparkAndShine May 21 '16 at 20:29
@sparkandshine IMHO explicit is better than implicit. The `isinstance` part also works as documentation. – Hindol May 29 '16 at 06:45
1

Doesn't really work with lists (even in the author's example), does it? Have to traverse lists too. – antonavy Aug 09 '16 at 13:36
1

Python 3 renamed dict.iteritems -> dict.items. – amin saffar May 10 '20 at 22:22

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 03 '22 at 16:20

I have modified a little bit from this link to get all keys&values in nested dict of list-of-dicts and dicts:

def recursive_items(dictionary):
    for key, value in dictionary.items():
        if type(value) is dict:
            yield (key, value)
            yield from recursive_items(value)
        elif type(value) is list:
            yield (key, value)
            for i in value:
                if type(i) is dict:
                    yield from recursive_items(i)
        else:
            yield (key, value)

for i in recursive_items(your_dict):
    print(i) #print out tuple of (key, value)

Output:

('action_name', 'mobile signup')
('functions', [{'name': 'test_signUp', 'parameters': {'username': 
'max@getappcard.com', 'password': '12345', 'mobileLater': '123454231', 'mobile': 
'1e2w1e2w', 'card': '1232313', 'cardLater': '1234321234321'}}])
('name', 'test_signUp')
('parameters', {'username': 'max@getappcard.com', 'password': '12345', 
'mobileLater': '123454231', 'mobile': '1e2w1e2w', 'card': '1232313', 
'cardLater': '1234321234321'})
('username', 'max@getappcard.com')
('password', '12345')
('mobileLater', '123454231')
('mobile', '1e2w1e2w')
('card', '1232313')
('cardLater', '1234321234321')
('validations', [{'MOB_header': 'My stores'}, {'url': '/stores/my'}])
('MOB_header', 'My stores')
('url', '/stores/my')

tom · Answer 3 · 2021-05-03T12:40:36.650

0

a little late but for python 3.8 you can use yield from

def dictitems2list(d):
    for k, v in d.items():
        yield k
        if isinstance(v, dict):
            yield from get_all_items(v)
        else:
            yield v

all_itemt = list(dict2items(d))

edited May 03 '21 at 12:40

answered May 03 '21 at 12:27

tom

31
4

What's the definition for `get_all_items()`? – Addison Klinke Feb 18 '22 at 19:47

how to get all keys&values in nested dict of list-of-dicts and dicts?

3 Answers3

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