Here are 2 ways to create a Dictionary in Python:
(1) Using curly brackets {}
my_dictionary = {1: 'aaa', 2: 'bbb', 3: 'ccc'}
(2) Using the dict() function
my_dictionary = dict({1: 'aaa', 2: 'bbb', 3: 'ccc'})
Note that each dictionary stores data in key:value pairs. In addition, the keys must be unique and cannot be repeated.
Examples of dictionaries
Example 1: create a dictionary in Python using curly brackets {}
Let’s create a simple dictionary using the curly brackets {} approach:
my_dictionary = {1: 'blue', 2: 'green', 3: 'red', 4: 'yellow', 5: 'orange'} print(my_dictionary) print(type(my_dictionary))
As you can see, we got the following dictionary. Note that the syntax of print(type(my_dictionary)) was added at the bottom of the code to demonstrate that we created a dictionary:
{1: 'blue', 2: 'green', 3: 'red', 4: 'yellow', 5: 'orange'}
<class 'dict'>
Example 2: create a dictionary using the dict() function
Optionally, you may use the dict() function to create a dictionary:
my_dictionary = dict({1: 'blue', 2: 'green', 3: 'red', 4: 'yellow', 5: 'orange'}) print(my_dictionary) print(type(my_dictionary))
You’ll get the same results:
{1: 'blue', 2: 'green', 3: 'red', 4: 'yellow', 5: 'orange'}
<class 'dict'>
Example 3: create a dictionary with lists
Finally, let’s create a dictionary, where each value in the dictionary would be a list:
my_dictionary = {1: ['blue', 'navy blue', 'royal blue'], 2: ['green', 'forest green', 'dark green'], 3: ['red', 'dark red', 'maroon'] } print(my_dictionary) print(type(my_dictionary))
Result:
{1: ['blue', 'navy blue', 'royal blue'], 2: ['green', 'forest green', 'dark green'], 3: ['red', 'dark red', 'maroon']}
<class 'dict'>