CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonfunctiondictionary
Merjit
Merjit

Reputation: 167

How to reference a dictionary key passed into a function?

Let's say I have a dictionary like this: 

phone_numbers = {'Ted': '555-222-1234', 'Sally': '555-867-5309'}

I'd like function that returns both the key and the value passed to it, e.g.:

>>> phonebook(phone_number['Ted'])
Ted's phone number is: 555-222-1234

In pseudocode, the function would be: 

def phonebook(number): 
    print("{}'s phone number is: {}".format(
        number.key(),  # Not a real dictionary method!
        number.value())  # Also not a real dictionary method!

Is there a way to do this without a lot of major back-end rewriting of types and classes?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 204

Answers (2)

Joel Brun
Joel Brun

Reputation: 1

here is your answer :

def phonebook(phonenumber):
    for name, number in phone_numbers.items():
        if(number = phonenumber):
            print("{}'s phone number is: {}".format(name, number)
            return

Upvotes: -1

user2555451
user2555451

Reputation:

You will need to pass both the dictionary and the name that you want to lookup:

>>> phone_numbers = {'Ted': '555-222-1234', 'Sally': '555-867-5309'}
>>> def phonebook(dct, name):
...     print("{}'s phone number is: {}".format(name, dct[name]))
...
>>> phonebook(phone_numbers, 'Ted')
Ted's phone number is: 555-222-1234
>>>

Doing phone_number['Ted'] simply returns the string phone number that is associated with the key 'Ted' in the dictionary. Meaning, there is no way to trace this string back to the dictionary it came from.

Upvotes: 4

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