Python Dictionary Tutorial: Mastering Key-Value Pair Data Structures for Efficient Programming

Dr. Soumen Atta, Ph.D.
5 min readApr 2, 2023
Photo by Jexo on Unsplash

A Python dictionary is a built-in data structure that allows you to store and manipulate data in key-value pairs. Each key in a dictionary maps to a corresponding value, and you can use the key to retrieve the value later on. In this tutorial, we’ll cover the basics of working with dictionaries in Python.

Creating a dictionary

You can create a dictionary by enclosing a comma-separated list of key-value pairs in curly braces {}. For example, the following code creates a dictionary with three key-value pairs:

my_dict = {"apple": 1, "banana": 2, "orange": 3}

In this case, the keys are the strings “apple”, “banana”, and “orange”, and the corresponding values are the integers 1, 2, and 3.

You can also create an empty dictionary and add key-value pairs later on. To create an empty dictionary, use the following syntax:

my_dict = {}

Adding and modifying…

--

--

Dr. Soumen Atta, Ph.D.

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of IT, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. You can find more about me on my homepage: https://www.soumenatta.com/