CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondictionary
Strobe_
Strobe_

Reputation: 515

Check if nested dictionary keys exist

So basically I'm traversing through the nested dictionary extension like so:

extension['value1']['value2']['value3']['value4']

However, sometimes the dict file can be a little different:

extension['value1']['value2']['blah1']['value4']

How can I account for this scenario? I don't have to worry about a large number of scenarios, the key will only ever be value3 or blah1

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3729

Answers (3)

Ry-
Ry-

Reputation: 224962

You could write a function to get the first key that exists:

def get_first_item(items, keys):
    for k in keys:
        if k in items:
            return items[k]

    raise KeyError

And then use it like this:

get_first_item(extension['value1']['value2'], ['value3', 'blah1'])['value4']

Upvotes: 2

mikeqfu
mikeqfu

Reputation: 328

I think the above two answers can well fix your problem. Since your key will be either value3 or blah1, instead of a function, you may as well use the following code when you loop through the dictionary:

try:
    value = extension['value1']['value2']['value3']['value4']
except Exception as e:  # except KeyError:
    # print(e)
    value = extension['value1']['value2']['blah1']['value4']

Upvotes: 2

Moinuddin Quadri
Moinuddin Quadri

Reputation: 48092

You have to explicitly check for the key and then fetch its value. For example:

optional_keys = ['value3', 'blah1']
value = None

for optional_key in optional_keys:
    if optional_key in extension['value1']['value2']:
         value = extension['value1']['value2'][optional_key]['value4']
         break

Upvotes: 2

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