Create a deeply nested dictionnary

Asked Nov 06 '18 at 13:08

Active Nov 06 '18 at 13:08

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I am trying to create a python dictionnary that is 4 levels deep, I did it with a couple of conditions but I wondered if anyone knew of a better looking solution (and more efficient also).

A simplified example is the following:

data = {'a': 5}
dict_to_fill = {}
for key_string in key_string_list:
   first_key = key_string[0]
   second_key = key_string[1]
   third_key = key_string[2]
   fourth_key = key_string[2]
   if not first_key in dict_to_fill:
       dict_to_fill[first_key] = {}
   if not second_key in dict_to_fill[first_key]:
      dict_to_fill[first_key][second_key] = {}
   if not third_key in dict_to_fill[first_key][second_key]:
      dict_to_fill[first_key][second_key][third_key] = {}
   dict_to_fill[first_key][second_key][third_key][fourth_key] = data

What I would ideally like is to simply do this

dict_to_fill[first_key][second_key][third_key][fourth_key] = data

Where all the index errors are replaced by the creation of a dict so that I don't have to through all those conditions.

asked Nov 06 '18 at 13:08

PiggyGenius

5

I suggest using a [recursive defaultdict](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5369723/multi-level-defaultdict-with-variable-depth) instead. – timgeb Nov 06 '18 at 13:11
@timgeb, I was thinking how to do that exactly. Awesome! – Netwave Nov 06 '18 at 13:13
Perfect, I hadn't seen this question while looking for the answer. This works very well. – PiggyGenius Nov 06 '18 at 13:14
Please define `key_string_list` – Rohit-Pandey Nov 06 '18 at 13:26

Create a deeply nested dictionnary

0 Answers0