How To Add String To Dictionary In Python

Dictionaries are used to store data using the key-value structure in Python.

When yous're working with dictionaries, y'all may ask yourself, how can I add an item to a lexicon? This article volition respond that question.

We'll break down the basics of dictionaries, how they work, and how you can add an detail to a Python dictionary. By the end of this tutorial, you'll be an expert at calculation items to Python dictionaries.

Python Dictionary: A Refresher

The dictionary information structure allows you to map keys to values. This is useful because keys act as a label for a value, which means that when yous want to access a item value, all you have to do is reference the key name for the value you lot want to retrieve.

Dictionaries generally store information that is related in some style, such equally a record for a educatee at school, or a listing of colors in which you tin buy a rug.

Consider the following dictionary:

scones = { 	"Fruit": 22, 	"Plain": 14, 	"Cinnamon": 4, 	"Cheese": 21 }

This dictionary contains four keys and four values. The keys are stored equally a string, and appear to the left of the colon; the values are stored to the right of the colons; spring to a detail key in the dictionary.

Now, how practise nosotros add together an item to this dictionary? Let's break it downward.

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Python Add to Dictionary

To add an item to a Python lexicon, you lot should assign a value to a new alphabetize fundamental in your lexicon.

Unlike lists and tuples, there is no add(), insert(), or append() method that yous can use to add items to your data structure. Instead, you take to create a new index primal, which will then be used to store the value you want to shop in your dictionary.

Here is the syntax for adding a new value to a dictionary:

dictionary_name[key] = value

Permit's use an case to illustrate how to add an item to a dictionary. In our lexicon from before, we stored four keys and values. This lexicon reflected the stock levels of unlike flavors of scones sold at a buffet.

Suppose nosotros have simply baked a batch of x new cherry scones. At present, we want to add these scones to our dictionary of scone types. To do so, we tin can use this code:

scones = { 	"Fruit": 22, 	"Evidently": fourteen, 	"Cinnamon": 4, 	"Cheese": 21 }  scones["Cherry"] = 10  impress(scones)

Our code returns:

{'Fruit': 22, 'Plain': 14, 'Cinnamon': four, 'Cheese': 21, 'Cherry': ten}

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Every bit you can see, our code has added the "Cherry" key to our dictionary, which has been assigned the value 10.

In our code, we first declared a lexicon called "scones" which stores information on how many scones are available at a cafe to order. Next, we added the key "Ruddy" to our dictionary and assigned information technology the value 10 by using the following code:

Finally, we printed out the updated version of our dictionary.

Discover that, in the output of our code, our lexicon is non ordered. This is because data stored in a dictionary, unlike data stored in a listing, does non have any detail lodge.

Tip: Adding and Updating Utilise the Same Notation

The same notation can exist used to update a value in a dictionary. Suppose nosotros have just broiled a new batch of 10 cinnamon scones. Nosotros could update our dictionary to reflect this using the following line of code:

scones = { 	"Fruit": 22, 	"Manifestly": 14, 	"Cinnamon": 4, 	"Cheese": 21 }  scones["Cinnamon"] = 14  impress(scones)

Our code returns:

{'Fruit': 22, 'Plain': 14, 'Cinnamon': 14, 'Cheese': 21}

This line of code sets the value associated with the "Cinnamon" central in our dictionary to 14.

Decision

There is no add(), append(), or insert() method you tin use to add an item to a lexicon in Python. Instead, you add together an item to a lexicon past inserting a new alphabetize fundamental into the dictionary, then assigning it a particular value.

This tutorial discussed, with an case, how to add an item to a Python dictionary. Now you're ready to start adding items to dictionaries like a Python expert!