Create a dictionary with name of variable

Question

I am trying to write a program to parse a file, break it into sections, and read it into a nested dictionary. I want the output to be something like this:

output = {'section1':{'nested_section1':{'value1':'value2'}}}

I'm trying to do this by building separate dictionaries, than merging them, but I'm running into trouble naming them. I want the dictionaries inside of the others to be named based on the sections of the file they're taken from. But it seems I can't name a dictionary from a variable.

Not sure what you are asking, but if you got `name = 'section1'`, then `{name: {'nested_section1':{'value1':'value2'}}}` will result in the same value as `output`. — metatoaster, Aug 07 '14 at 23:39
Very difficult to gather what you are asking for w/o the code and sample input — shaktimaan, Aug 07 '14 at 23:40
Yes please post an example piece of code that's throwing an error so we can see what you're trying to do. — anderspitman, Aug 08 '14 at 00:51
The only variable name shown in your example is `output`, yet the dictionary associated with it doesn't contain the string `"output"` -- so your question makes little sense as it stands. — martineau, Aug 08 '14 at 01:25

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 07 '14 at 23:56

0

You can name a dictionary entry from a variable. If you have

text = "myKey" # or myNumber or any hashable type
data = dict()

You can do

data[text] = anyValue

answered Aug 07 '14 at 23:56

Steve K

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 08 '14 at 00:47

Store all your dictionaries in a single root dictionary.

all_dicts['output'] = {'section1':{'nested_section1':{'value1':'value2'}}}

As you merge dictionaries, remove the children from all_dicts.

all_dicts['someotherdict']['key'] = all_dicts['output']
del all_dicts['output']

Create a dictionary with name of variable

2 Answers2

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