python - recursively deleting dict keys?

Question

I\'m using Python 2.7 with plistlib to import a .plist in a nested dict/array form, then look for a particular key and delete it wherever I see it.

When it

Answer 1

Here a generalized version of the one of @bruno desthuilliers, with a callable to test against the keys.

def clean_dict(obj, func):
    """
    This method scrolls the entire 'obj' to delete every key for which the 'callable' returns
    True

    :param obj: a dictionary or a list of dictionaries to clean
    :param func: a callable that takes a key in argument and return True for each key to delete
    """
    if isinstance(obj, dict):
        # the call to `list` is useless for py2 but makes
        # the code py2/py3 compatible
        for key in list(obj.keys()):
            if func(key):
                del obj[key]
            else:
                clean_dict(obj[key], func)
    elif isinstance(obj, list):
        for i in reversed(range(len(obj))):
            if func(obj[i]):
                del obj[i]
            else:
                clean_dict(obj[i], func)

    else:
        # neither a dict nor a list, do nothing
        pass

And an example with a regex callable :

func = lambda key: re.match(r"^
", key)

clean_dict(obj, func)