This document is for an old version of Python that is no longer supported. You should upgrade and read the Python documentation for the current stable release.

# Dictionary Objects

`PyDictObject`

  This subtype of `PyObject` represents a Python dictionary object.

PyTypeObject `PyDict_Type`

  This instance of `PyTypeObject` represents the Python dictionary type. This is exposed to Python programs as `dict` and `types.DictType`.

int `PyDict_Check`(PyObject *p)

  Return true if p is a dict object or an instance of a subtype of the dict type.

  Changed in version 2.2: Allowed subtypes to be accepted.

int `PyDict_CheckExact`(PyObject *p)

  Return true if p is a dict object, but not an instance of a subtype of the dict type.

  New in version 2.4.

PyObject* `PyDict_New`()
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a new empty dictionary, or NULL on failure.

PyObject* `PyDictProxy_New`(PyObject *dict)
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a proxy object for a mapping which enforces read-only behavior. This is normally used to create a proxy to prevent modification of the dictionary for non-dynamic class types.

  New in version 2.2.

void `PyDict_Clear`(PyObject *p)

  Empty an existing dictionary of all key-value pairs.

int `PyDict_Contains`(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)

  Determine if dictionary p contains key. If an item in p is matches key, return `1`, otherwise return `0`. On error, return `-1`. This is equivalent to the Python expression `key in p`.

  New in version 2.4.

PyObject* `PyDict_Copy`(PyObject *p)
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a new dictionary that contains the same key-value pairs as p.

  New in version 1.6.

int `PyDict_SetItem`(PyObject *p, PyObject *key, PyObject *val)

  Insert value into the dictionary p with a key of key. key must be hashable; if it isn’t, `TypeError` will be raised. Return `0` on success or `-1` on failure.

int `PyDict_SetItemString`(PyObject *p, const char *key, PyObject *val)

  Insert value into the dictionary p using key as a key. key should be a `char*`. The key object is created using `PyString_FromString(key)`. Return `0` on success or `-1` on failure.

int `PyDict_DelItem`(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)

  Remove the entry in dictionary p with key key. key must be hashable; if it isn’t, `TypeError` is raised. Return `0` on success or `-1` on failure.

int `PyDict_DelItemString`(PyObject *p, char *key)

  Remove the entry in dictionary p which has a key specified by the string key. Return `0` on success or `-1` on failure.

PyObject* `PyDict_GetItem`(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)
  Return value: Borrowed reference.

  Return the object from dictionary p which has a key key. Return NULL if the key key is not present, but without setting an exception.

PyObject* `PyDict_GetItemString`(PyObject *p, const char *key)
  Return value: Borrowed reference.

  This is the same as `PyDict_GetItem()`, but key is specified as a `char*`, rather than a `PyObject*`.

PyObject* `PyDict_Items`(PyObject *p)
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a `PyListObject` containing all the items from the dictionary, as in the dictionary method `dict.items()`.

PyObject* `PyDict_Keys`(PyObject *p)
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a `PyListObject` containing all the keys from the dictionary, as in the dictionary method `dict.keys()`.

PyObject* `PyDict_Values`(PyObject *p)
  Return value: New reference.

  Return a `PyListObject` containing all the values from the dictionary p, as in the dictionary method `dict.values()`.

Py_ssize_t `PyDict_Size`(PyObject *p)

  Return the number of items in the dictionary. This is equivalent to `len(p)` on a dictionary.

  Changed in version 2.5: This function returned an `int` type. This might require changes in your code for properly supporting 64-bit systems.

int `PyDict_Next`(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t *ppos, PyObject **pkey, PyObject **pvalue)

  Iterate over all key-value pairs in the dictionary p. The `Py_ssize_t` referred to by ppos must be initialized to `0` prior to the first call to this function to start the iteration; the function returns true for each pair in the dictionary, and false once all pairs have been reported. The parameters pkey and pvalue should either point to `PyObject*` variables that will be filled in with each key and value, respectively, or may be NULL. Any references returned through them are borrowed. ppos should not be altered during iteration. Its value represents offsets within the internal dictionary structure, and since the structure is sparse, the offsets are not consecutive.

  For example:

      PyObject *key, *value;
      Py_ssize_t pos = 0;

      while (PyDict_Next(self->dict, &pos, &key, &value)) {
          /* do something interesting with the values... */
          ...
      }

  The dictionary p should not be mutated during iteration. It is safe (since Python 2.1) to modify the values of the keys as you iterate over the dictionary, but only so long as the set of keys does not change. For example:

      PyObject *key, *value;
      Py_ssize_t pos = 0;

      while (PyDict_Next(self->dict, &pos, &key, &value)) {
          int i = PyInt_AS_LONG(value) + 1;
          PyObject *o = PyInt_FromLong(i);
          if (o == NULL)
              return -1;
          if (PyDict_SetItem(self->dict, key, o) < 0) {
              Py_DECREF(o);
              return -1;
          }
          Py_DECREF(o);
      }

  Changed in version 2.5: This function used an `int *` type for ppos. This might require changes in your code for properly supporting 64-bit systems.

int `PyDict_Merge`(PyObject *a, PyObject *b, int override)

  Iterate over mapping object b adding key-value pairs to dictionary a. b may be a dictionary, or any object supporting `PyMapping_Keys()` and `PyObject_GetItem()`. If override is true, existing pairs in a will be replaced if a matching key is found in b, otherwise pairs will only be added if there is not a matching key in a. Return `0` on success or `-1` if an exception was raised.

  New in version 2.2.

int `PyDict_Update`(PyObject *a, PyObject *b)

  This is the same as `PyDict_Merge(a, b, 1)` in C, and is similar to `a.update(b)` in Python except that `PyDict_Update()` doesn’t fall back to the iterating over a sequence of key value pairs if the second argument has no “keys” attribute. Return `0` on success or `-1` if an exception was raised.

  New in version 2.2.

int `PyDict_MergeFromSeq2`(PyObject *a, PyObject *seq2, int override)

  Update or merge into dictionary a, from the key-value pairs in seq2. seq2 must be an iterable object producing iterable objects of length 2, viewed as key-value pairs. In case of duplicate keys, the last wins if override is true, else the first wins. Return `0` on success or `-1` if an exception was raised. Equivalent Python (except for the return value):

      def PyDict_MergeFromSeq2(a, seq2, override):
          for key, value in seq2:
              if override or key not in a:
                  a[key] = value

  New in version 2.2.