Get Value of a key from List of dictionary

Question

I have a list of dictionaries with 2 keys: 'name' & 'value'. I need to get the value of 'value' key if value of 'name' key is 'Subject'

Currently i'm iterating through each dict and checking the value of 'name' and getting the value of 'value'. Is there any improved way of doing this ?

items = [
            {
                "name": "From",
                "value": "from@example.com"
            },
            {
                "name": "Date",
                "value": "Tue, 8 Sep 2014 16:18:35 +0530"
            },
            {
                "name": "Subject",
                "value": "Test Subject"
            },
            {
                "name": "To",
                "value": "sender@example.com"
            },
        ]

for item in items:
    if item.get('name') == 'Subject':
        print "Subject: " + item.get('value')

Answer 1

As Jonas told, better for modify your structure because

from collections import defaultdict
it = [
            {
                "name": "From",
                "value": "from@example.com"
            },
            {
                "name": "Date",
                "value": "Tue, 8 Sep 2014 16:18:35 +0530"
            },
            {
                "name": "Subject",
                "value": "Test Subject"
            },
            {
                "name": "Subject",
                "value": "Test Subject 55"
            },
            {
                "name": "To",
                "value": "sender@example.com"
            },
        ]


result = defaultdict(list)
# shorcut better to use for...
[result[item["name"]].append(item["value"]) for item in it]

print(result["Subject"])
['Test Subject', 'Test Subject 55']

Answer 2

You could use next along with a generator filtering and converting the items.

>>> subject = next(field['value']
...                for field in items
...                if field['name'] == 'Subject')

Answer 3

You should transpose your data into a dict instead:

>>> d = dict([(e['name'],e['value']) for e in items])    # transpose

Or a slightly easier way as mentioned by Peter Wood in the comments:

>>> d = {e['name']: e['value'] for e in items}

Then just use the dict as normal:

>>> d['Subject']
'Test Subject'