A value can be retrieved from a dictionary using several different methods. The most common is to access the value directly by specifying the associated key in square brackets following the dictionary variable. A list of values contained in a dictionary can be retrieved using the values() method. The values method returns a list containing all objects that are values in the dictionary. Similarly, you can obtain just a list of keys using the keys() method. The keys method returns a list of objects that are currently being used as keys in the dictionary. The list of keys is useful in many ways, such as creating a tuple of the keys for faster lookups in the dictionary. You can also get a list of key and value pairs by using the items() method. The items method returns a list that contains two-element tuples of each key and value pair in the dictionary. validkeys = (1,2,3) keyGenDict={'keys':[1,2,3],1:'blue',2:'fast', 3:'test','key':2} def show_key (key): if(key in validkeys): keyVal = (keyGenDict["keys"])[key-1] print "Key = " + keyGenDict[keyVal] else: print("Invalid key") #Retrieving dictionary key list print keyGenDict.keys() #Retrieving dictionary value list print keyGenDict.keys() #Retrieving dictionary value list print keyGenDict.items() #Retrieve value from key val = keyGenDict["key"] show_key(val) keyGenDict["key"] = 1 val = keyGenDict["key"] show_key(val) ret_dict.py ['keys', 1, 2, 3, 'key'] [[1, 2, 3], 'blue', 'fast', 'test', 2] [('keys', [1, 2, 3]), (1, 'blue'), (2, 'fast'), (3, 'test'), ('key', 2)] Key = fast Key = blue Output of ret_dict.py |