Removing a dictionary from a nested dictionary

Question

I wanna remove a dictionary from a nested dictionary and I don't know how. From this dictionary:

dict = {  
    'user': [
        {
            'firstName': 'john',
            'lastName': 'doe',
            'movieList': []
        },
        {
            'firstName': 'sarah',
            'lastName': 'doe',
            'movieList': []
        },
        {
            'firstName': 'john',
            'lastName': 'smith',
            'movieList': []
        },
        {
            'firstName': 'sarah',
            'lastName': 'smith',
            'movieList': []
        }
    ], 'movie': []
}

I want to remove:

{
    'firstName': 'john', 
    'lastName': 'doe', 
    'movieList': []
}

which has the index 0 I tried using delete but i get this error:

dict['user'][userId] TypeError: list indices must be integers or slices, not str

@FELASNIPER del dict['user'][userId] , i don't knwo something else what i could do — Gallo, Nov 01 '17 at 22:21
`dict['user']` returns a _list_ not a _dictionary_, thats what the error is trying to tell — Jože Ws, Nov 01 '17 at 22:26

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:23

2

First, I wouldn't name the dict "dict", use "d" or something else.

dict['user'].pop(0)

answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:23

SuperStew

2,857
2
15
27

1

Thanks for helping – Gallo Nov 01 '17 at 22:26
1

What is "userId"? I copied the code you supplied and it worked just fine for me. – SuperStew Nov 01 '17 at 22:27
1

i didn't change the data type of userId – Gallo Nov 01 '17 at 22:28
1

now it works fine – Gallo Nov 01 '17 at 22:28

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:28

0

I would write a comment, but my reputation is too low. It seems like your variable userId might be a string instead of an integer. If this is the case, try converting userId to an int:

userId = int(userId)

answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:28

Luke Bergenthal

51
2

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:31

See this question for more info on del pop and remove Difference between del, remove and pop on lists

If you do not want to use the dictionary you are removing, I would use del, as below:

d = {'user': [{'firstName': 'john', 'lastName': 'doe', 'movieList': []},
              {'firstName': 'sarah', 'lastName': 'doe', 'movieList': []},
              {'firstName': 'john', 'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': []},
              {'firstName': 'sarah', 'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': []}], 'movie': []}

del d['user'][0]

This [0] is deleting the first index of the list stored as the value of the 'user' key

If you are repeatedly deleting the first index of your list and your list is long, consider using a deque() instead, which has fast pops from either end: https://docs.python.org/3/library/collections.html#collections.deque

Also, don't call your variables the same name as their types, aka don't call your dictionary variable dict

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 22:53

You can try this:

dict1 = {'user': [{'firstName': 'john', 'lastName': 'doe', 'movieList': []}, {'firstName': 'sarah', 'lastName': 'doe', 'movieList': []}, {'firstName': 'john', 'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': []}, {'firstName': 'sarah', 'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': []}], 'movie': []}
new_dict = {a:b[1:] if b else b for a, b in dict1.items()}

Output:

{'movie': [], 'user': [{'lastName': 'doe', 'movieList': [], 'firstName': 'sarah'}, {'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': [], 'firstName': 'john'}, {'lastName': 'smith', 'movieList': [], 'firstName': 'sarah'}]}

Removing a dictionary from a nested dictionary

4 Answers4