Python list of dictionaries?

Question

I have little experience in Python, more in C. I am used to arrays of arrays, and that would be simple for me to do what I want, but this is not.

So I have a dictionary, which also has a list inside:

lightstate = {"on" : False, "bri": 0, "xy": [0.0, 0.0], "ct": 153}

I want to make a few copies of it, which I can address with the value of a variable.

In C, it would be arrayname[varname][0], so I would get lightstate 1, "on". Here, in python, I am not sure. The "xy" list also throws me off. To note, I am modifying existing code, so I can't just scrap it all.

So how can I do this?

Answer 1

In Python, you can copy a dict object like this:

new_dict = dict(lightstate)

So if you want to make a few copies of it and store them in a list for example, you can write:

nb_copies = 10  # Your number of copies
new_dicts = [dict(lightstate) for i in range(nb_copies)]

You can access the values of the dictionaries by doing so:

# lightstate = {"on" : False, "bri": 0, "xy": [0.0, 0.0], "ct": 153}
on_value = new_dicts[0]["on"]
bri_value = new_dicts[0]["bri"]
xy_value = new_dicts[0]["xy"]  # It is a list: [0.0, 0.0]
ct_value = new_dicts[0]["ct"]