Trying to keep duplicates while making a dictionary

Question

word = 'EVAPORATE'
lettersWord = list(word)
d = {}
for elem in lettersWord:
       d[elem] = '_'
print(d)

This returns:

{'E': '_', 'V': '_', 'A': '_', 'P': '_', 'O': '_', 'R': '_', 'T': '_'}

Though what I want it to return is:

{'E': '_', 'V': '_', 'A': '_', 'P': '_', 'O': '_', 'R': '_', 'A': '_', 'T': '_', 'E': '_'}

Thanks for any help!

Use defaultdict function. It's possible see also [link](https://stackoverflow.com/q/10664856/5025009) — seralouk, Jul 01 '17 at 15:18
In this case, a dictionary is just not the correct structure (What would `d['E']` mean?) Either use a multiset (Like `collections.Counter`) or a list `[('E', '_'), ('V', '_'), ...]` — Artyer, Jul 01 '17 at 15:21

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 01 '17 at 15:17

1

Create a list of the duplicate key's values:

from collections import defaultdict

word = 'EVAPORATE'

d = defaultdict(list)

for i in word:
    d[i].append("_")

Output:

{'A': ['_', '_'], 'E': ['_', '_'], 'O': ['_'], 'P': ['_'], 'R': ['_'], 'T': ['_'], 'V': ['_']}

answered Jul 01 '17 at 15:17

Ajax1234

69,937
8
61
102

Thanks, helped a lot! – Gaurav G. Jul 05 '17 at 22:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 01 '17 at 16:03

0

The keys of a dictionary must be unique, so you can't have duplicates. One way to make the keys unique in this case would be to make them a tuple that contains the letter and its corresponding string index.

Here's what I mean:

from pprint import pprint

word = 'EVAPORATE'
d = {}

for (i, letter) in enumerate(word):
       d[i, letter] = '_'

pprint(d)

Output:

{(0, 'E'): '_',
 (1, 'V'): '_',
 (2, 'A'): '_',
 (3, 'P'): '_',
 (4, 'O'): '_',
 (5, 'R'): '_',
 (6, 'A'): '_',
 (7, 'T'): '_',
 (8, 'E'): '_'}

answered Jul 01 '17 at 16:03

martineau

119,623
25
170
301

Not exactly what I was looking for, but helpful nonetheless! – Gaurav G. Jul 05 '17 at 23:13
GauravG.: Note, too, that the index and the letter can be put in the opposite order in the tuple—whichever's the most convenient. – martineau Jul 05 '17 at 23:19

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 02 '17 at 01:23

If you want to use some type of list data structure you could try a 2D array

Or if you are fine with using a string to show your output you could do that as well

2D array implementation

word = 'EVAPORATE'
lettersWord = list(word)
d = []
for elem in range(len(lettersWord)):
   d.append([])       #here we make our sublist
   d[elem].append(lettersWord[elem])    #here we append the current character of lettersWord to the current sublist
   d[elem].append('_')      #here we append the underscore as our marker


for i in d:
  print(i)

String implementation

ourString = ''

for i in word:
  ourString += i+' : _ \n'  #here we append our : _ and a newline as our marker



print(ourString)

Output #1:

 ['E', '_']
 ['V', '_']
 ['A', '_']
 ['P', '_']
 ['O', '_']
 ['R', '_']
 ['A', '_']
 ['T', '_']
 ['E', '_']

Output #2

  E : _ 
  V : _ 
  A : _ 
  P : _ 
  O : _ 
  R : _ 
  A : _ 
  T : _ 
  E : _

Hope this helps!

Trying to keep duplicates while making a dictionary

3 Answers3