CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonstringdictionary
Random Guy
Random Guy

Reputation: 123

Using a string for a dictionary

So I have some dictionaries:

dict1 = { "a": 5, "b": 1, "c": 8 }
dict2 = { "a": 2, "b": 6, "c": 11 }

How do I take input and search in the dictionary called whatever the input is? So I take input and print the value c of that dictionary.

The idea is for something that acts this way:

>>> my_function()
Enter a dict: dict1
The answer is: 8

>>> my_function()
Enter a dict: dict2
The answer is: 11

Upvotes: 0

Views: 85

Answers (3)

Padraic Cunningham
Padraic Cunningham

Reputation: 180411

Store them as a dict of dicts:

all_dicts = {"dict1":{"a": 5, "b": 1, "c": 8},"dict2":{"a": 2, "b": 6, "c": 11}}

d, v = raw_input("Enter dict and key separated by a space").split()

print(all_dicts.get(d,{}).get(v,"Incorrect dict or key"))

Upvotes: 0

Tzach
Tzach

Reputation: 13376

As said in comments and other answers, it's recommended to put the dicts inside another dict. However to achieve what you want you can use the globals() function:

dict_name = raw_input("Enter dict name:")
selected_dict = globals()[dict_name]
print selected_dict['c']

Upvotes: 0

Jivan
Jivan

Reputation: 23068

You should do that instead:

global_dict = {
    'dict_1': {"a":5, "b":1, "c":8},
    'dict_2': {"a":2, "b":6, "c":11},
}

dict_name = raw_input("Enter a dict: ")

try:
    print(global_dict[dict_name]['c'])
except KeyError:
    print('Dict not found')

Upvotes: 6

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