Python Nested Dictionaries Tutorial with Examples

In Python, nested dictionaries are dictionaries that contain other dictionaries as values.

They allow you to store hierarchical, structured data, which can be useful in a variety of applications such as storing records, processing JSON data, and representing real-world objects with multiple attributes.

In this tutorial, we will cover:

1. What is a Nested Dictionary?
2. Accessing Items in a Nested Dictionary
3. Modifying Items in a Nested Dictionary
4. Adding Items to a Nested Dictionary
5. Removing Items from a Nested Dictionary
6. Looping Through a Nested Dictionary
7. Examples and Use Cases of Nested Dictionaries

Let’s dive into each concept with explanations and examples.

1. What is a Nested Dictionary?

A nested dictionary is a dictionary where the values can be other dictionaries. This allows you to create complex structures that represent real-world data in a hierarchical way.

Example: Nested Dictionary

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8},
    "Bob": {"age": 21, "major": "Physics", "GPA": 3.4}
}

print(students)

Output:

{
    'John': {'age': 20, 'major': 'Computer Science', 'GPA': 3.5},
    'Alice': {'age': 22, 'major': 'Mathematics', 'GPA': 3.8},
    'Bob': {'age': 21, 'major': 'Physics', 'GPA': 3.4}
}

• In this example, the students dictionary contains three keys (“John”, “Alice”, and “Bob”), and each of them has a value that is another dictionary with attributes like age, major, and GPA.

2. Accessing Items in a Nested Dictionary

You can access values in a nested dictionary by using the keys. You access the outer dictionary first and then access the inner dictionary using its keys.

Example 1: Accessing Nested Values

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8}
}

# Accessing John's age
john_age = students["John"]["age"]
print(f"John's age: {john_age}")

# Accessing Alice's major
alice_major = students["Alice"]["major"]
print(f"Alice's major: {alice_major}")

Output:

John's age: 20
Alice's major: Mathematics

• In this example, we access the nested dictionaries using a combination of keys (students[“John”][“age”] for John’s age).

Example 2: Using .get() to Access Nested Values

You can also use the .get() method to access nested dictionary values. It’s safer because it doesn’t raise a KeyError if the key doesn’t exist.

# Accessing John's GPA using .get()
john_gpa = students.get("John", {}).get("GPA", "Not Found")
print(f"John's GPA: {john_gpa}")

# Trying to access Bob's major (Bob is not in the dictionary)
bob_major = students.get("Bob", {}).get("major", "Not Found")
print(f"Bob's major: {bob_major}")

Output:

John's GPA: 3.5
Bob's major: Not Found

• In this example, .get() returns “Not Found” if the key doesn’t exist, avoiding a KeyError.

3. Modifying Items in a Nested Dictionary

You can modify values in a nested dictionary by accessing them using their keys and assigning new values.

Example: Modifying Nested Values

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8}
}

# Modifying John's GPA
students["John"]["GPA"] = 3.7
print(f"Updated John's GPA: {students['John']['GPA']}")

# Modifying Alice's major
students["Alice"]["major"] = "Statistics"
print(f"Updated Alice's major: {students['Alice']['major']}")

Output:

Updated John's GPA: 3.7
Updated Alice's major: Statistics

• In this example, we modify the GPA and major for John and Alice by directly assigning new values to the nested dictionary keys.

4. Adding Items to a Nested Dictionary

You can add new items to a nested dictionary by assigning a new dictionary to a key in the outer dictionary.

Example: Adding a New Student

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8}
}

# Adding a new student Bob
students["Bob"] = {"age": 21, "major": "Physics", "GPA": 3.4}
print(students)

Output:

{
    'John': {'age': 20, 'major': 'Computer Science', 'GPA': 3.5},
    'Alice': {'age': 22, 'major': 'Mathematics', 'GPA': 3.8},
    'Bob': {'age': 21, 'major': 'Physics', 'GPA': 3.4}
}

• In this example, we add a new student (“Bob”) with attributes like age, major, and GPA to the students dictionary.

5. Removing Items from a Nested Dictionary

You can remove items from a nested dictionary using the del statement or the .pop() method.

Example: Removing a Student from the Nested Dictionary

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8},
    "Bob": {"age": 21, "major": "Physics", "GPA": 3.4}
}

# Removing Bob from the dictionary using del
del students["Bob"]
print(students)

# Removing Alice from the dictionary using pop()
alice_info = students.pop("Alice")
print(f"Alice's information: {alice_info}")
print(students)

Output:

{'John': {'age': 20, 'major': 'Computer Science', 'GPA': 3.5}}
Alice's information: {'age': 22, 'major': 'Mathematics', 'GPA': 3.8}
{'John': {'age': 20, 'major': 'Computer Science', 'GPA': 3.5}}

• In this example, we remove “Bob” using del and remove “Alice” using .pop(), which returns the removed value.

6. Looping Through a Nested Dictionary

You can loop through a nested dictionary using a for loop. You can access both the outer and inner dictionaries during iteration.

Example: Looping Through Nested Dictionary

students = {
    "John": {"age": 20, "major": "Computer Science", "GPA": 3.5},
    "Alice": {"age": 22, "major": "Mathematics", "GPA": 3.8},
    "Bob": {"age": 21, "major": "Physics", "GPA": 3.4}
}

# Looping through the outer dictionary
for student, info in students.items():
    print(f"Student: {student}")
    # Looping through the inner dictionary
    for key, value in info.items():
        print(f"  {key}: {value}")

Output:

Student: John
  age: 20
  major: Computer Science
  GPA: 3.5
Student: Alice
  age: 22
  major: Mathematics
  GPA: 3.8
Student: Bob
  age: 21
  major: Physics
  GPA: 3.4

• In this example, we loop through both the outer and inner dictionaries, printing the student’s name and their details.

7. Examples and Use Cases of Nested Dictionaries

Example 1: Storing Information About Employees

employees = {
    "E001": {"name": "John", "position": "Manager", "salary": 70000},
    "E002": {"name": "Alice", "position": "Developer", "salary": 65000},
    "E003": {"name": "Bob", "position": "Designer", "salary": 60000}
}

# Accessing employee information
for emp_id, details in employees.items():
    print(f"Employee ID: {emp_id}")
   

 print(f"  Name: {details['name']}")
    print(f"  Position: {details['position']}")
    print(f"  Salary: ${details['salary']}")

Output:

Employee ID: E001
  Name: John
  Position: Manager
  Salary: $70000
Employee ID: E002
  Name: Alice
  Position: Developer
  Salary: $65000
Employee ID: E003
  Name: Bob
  Position: Designer
  Salary: $60000

• In this example, we store and access information about employees using a nested dictionary.

Example 2: Representing a Dictionary of Cities with Information

cities = {
    "New York": {"country": "USA", "population": 8419600},
    "Tokyo": {"country": "Japan", "population": 13929286},
    "London": {"country": "UK", "population": 8982000}
}

# Accessing information about cities
for city, info in cities.items():
    print(f"City: {city}, Country: {info['country']}, Population: {info['population']}")

Output:

City: New York, Country: USA, Population: 8419600
City: Tokyo, Country: Japan, Population: 13929286
City: London, Country: UK, Population: 8982000

• In this example, we store and print details about various cities using nested dictionaries.

Summary of Python Nested Dictionaries:

Conclusion

Nested dictionaries in Python provide a powerful way to store and manage hierarchical data. In this tutorial, we covered:

• How to create, access, and modify nested dictionaries.
• Adding and removing items from nested dictionaries.
• Looping through nested dictionaries to process the outer and inner elements.
• Examples of real-world use cases, such as managing employee information or storing city details.