The objective is to convert the following nested dictionary
secondary_citing_paper = [{"paper_href": 'Unique One', 'Paper_year': 1}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique Two', 'Paper_year': 2}]
inner_level = [secondary_citing_paper, secondary_citing_paper]
my_dict_x = [inner_level, inner_level]
into a flat level dictionary in Python (sorry for the better use of terminology here!), as below
expected_output = [{"paper_href": 'Unique One', 'Paper_year': 1}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique Two', 'Paper_year': 2}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique One', 'Paper_year': 1}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique Two', 'Paper_year': 2}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique One', 'Paper_year': 1}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique Two', 'Paper_year': 2}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique One', 'Paper_year': 1}, \
{"paper_href": 'Unique Two', 'Paper_year': 2}, \
]
The following code was drafted
expected_output = []
for my_dict in my_dict_x:
for the_ref in my_dict:
for x_ref in the_ref:
expected_output.append( x_ref )
While the code serve its purpose, but I wonder if there exist more Pythonic approach?
Note I found several question on SO but its about merging exactly 2 dictionaries.
Edit: The thread has been closed due to associated with a similar question, and I am unable delete this thread as Vishal Singh has post his suggestion.
Nevertheless, as per suggested by OP, one way to recursively convert is as below
def flatten(container):
for i in container:
if isinstance(i, (list,tuple)):
yield from flatten(i)
else:
yield i
expected_output=list(flatten(my_dict_x))
or faster iteration approach,
def flatten(items, seqtypes=(list, tuple)):
for i, x in enumerate(items):
while i < len(items) and isinstance(items[i], seqtypes):
items[i:i+1] = items[i]
return items
expected_output = flatten(my_dict_x[:])
