Bite-Size Python

12Dictionaries

Python is a great choice of languages to use when working with sets of data! You previously learned how to create a list to store items, each of which consists of a singular object. But sometimes, named values may be more appropriate for the data you're using. How can you store named values? This sounds like a job for a dictionary!

Create a Dictionary

A dictionary is a list of named values, which means that each item in the list consists of a key and a value, often referred to as a key-value pair.

The collection of data inside a dictionary is surrounded by curly braces, {}. Each item (key-value pair) has the syntax key: value. Keys must be unique in the dictionary and can be quoted strings, numbers, or tuples. Each key can have any value of any type. The items inside a dictionary are separated by commas. Since dictionaries can be rather lengthy, you can format a dictionary in a manner that's visually easier for you to read.

The following are grades for a recent math test. On the left, the name of the student is provided, and on the right, the grade that they received on the test is provided.

Let's create a dictionary called math_test to store everyone's test ...