Storing and updating lists in Python dictionaries: why does this happen?
I have a list of data that looks like the following:
// timestep,x_position,y_position
0,4,7
0,2,7
0,9,5
0,6,7
1,2,5
1,4,7
1,9,0
1,6,8
... and I want to make this look like:
0, (4,7), (2,7), (9,5), (6,7)
1, (2,5), (4,7), (9,0), (6.8)
My plan was to use a dictionary, where the value of t is the key for the dictionary, and the value against the key would be a list. I could then append each (x,y) to the list. Something like:
# where t = 0, c = (4,7), d = {}
# code 1
d[t].append(c)
Now this causes IDLE to fail. However, if I do:
# code 2
d[t] = []
d[t].append(c)
... this works.
So the question is: why does code 2 work, but code 1 doesn't?
PS Any improvement on what I'm planning on doing would be of great interest!! I think I will have to check the dictionary on each loop through the input to see if the dictionary key already exists, I guess by using something like max(d.keys()): if it is there, append data, if not create the empty list as the dictionary value, and then append data on the next loop through.
Asked by: Justin682 | Posted: 28-01-2022
Answer 1
Let's look at
d[t].append(c)
What is the value of d[t]? Try it.
d = {}
t = 0
d[t]
What do you get? Oh. There's nothing in d that has a key of t.
Now try this.
d[t] = []
d[t]
Ahh. Now there's something in d with a key of t.
There are several things you can do.
- Use example 2.
- Use
setdefault.d.setdefault(t,[]).append(c). - Use collections.defaultdict. You'd use a
defaultdict(list)instead of a simple dictionary,{}.
Edit 1. Optimization
Given input lines from a file in the above form: ts, x, y, the grouping process is needless. There's no reason to go from a simple list of ( ts, x, y ) to a more complex list of ( ts, (x,y), (x,y), (x,y), ... ). The original list can be processed exactly as it arrived.
d= collections.defaultdict(list)
for ts, x, y in someFileOrListOrQueryOrWhatever:
d[ts].append( (x,y) )
Edit 2. Answer Question
"when initialising a dictionary, you need to tell the dictionary what the key-value data structure will look like?"
I'm not sure what the question means. Since, all dictionaries are key-value structures, the question's not very clear. So, I'll review the three alternatives, which may answer the question.
Example 2.
Initialization
d= {}
Use
if t not in d:
d[t] = list()
d[t].append( c )
Each dictionary value must be initialized to some useful structure. In this case, we check to see if the key is present; when the key is missing, we create the key and assign an empty list.
Setdefault
Initialization
d= {}
Use
d.setdefault(t,list()).append( c )
In this case, we exploit the setdefault method to either fetch a value associated with a key or create a new value associated with a missing key.
default dict
Initialization
import collections
d = collections.defaultdict(list)
Use
d[t].append( c )
The defaultdict uses an initializer function for missing keys. In this case, we provide the list function so that a new, empty list is created for a missing key.
Answer 2
I think you want to use setdefault. It's a bit weird to use but does exactly what you need.
d.setdefault(t, []).append(c)
The .setdefault method will return the element (in our case, a list) that's bound to the dict's key t if that key exists. If it doesn't, it will bind an empty list to the key t and return it. So either way, a list will be there that the .append method can then append the tuple c to.
Answer 3
dict=[] //it's not a dict, it's a list, the dictionary is dict={}
elem=[1,2,3]
dict.append(elem)
you can access the single element in this way:
print dict[0] // 0 is the index
the output will be:
[1, 2, 3]
Answer 4
In the case your data is not already sorted by desired criteria, here's the code that might help to group the data:
#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
$ cat data_shuffled.txt
0,2,7
1,4,7
0,4,7
1,9,0
1,2,5
0,6,7
1,6,8
0,9,5
"""
from itertools import groupby
from operator import itemgetter
# load the data and make sure it is sorted by the first column
sortby_key = itemgetter(0)
data = sorted((map(int, line.split(',')) for line in open('data_shuffled.txt')),
key=sortby_key)
# group by the first column
grouped_data = []
for key, group in groupby(data, key=sortby_key):
assert key == len(grouped_data) # assume the first column is 0,1, ...
grouped_data.append([trio[1:] for trio in group])
# print the data
for i, pairs in enumerate(grouped_data):
print i, pairs
Output:
0 [[2, 7], [4, 7], [6, 7], [9, 5]]
1 [[4, 7], [9, 0], [2, 5], [6, 8]]
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