Python Generate a dynamic dictionary from the list of keys

Question

I do have a list as given below -

keyList1 = [\"Person\", \"Male\", \"Boy\", \"Student\", \"id_123\", \"Name\"]
value1 = \"Roger\"

How can I ge

Answer 1

You can do this by making nested defaultdicts:

from collections import defaultdict

def recursive_defaultdict():
    return defaultdict(recursive_defaultdict)

def setpath(d, p, k):
    if len(p) == 1:
        d[p[0]] = k
    else:
        setpath(d[p[0]], p[1:], k)

mydict = recursive_defaultdict()

setpath(mydict, ["Person", "Male", "Boy", "Student", "id_123", "Name"], 'Roger')

print mydict["Person"]["Male"]["Boy"]["Student"]["id_123"]["Name"]
# prints 'Roger'

This has the nice advantage of being able to write

mydict['a']['b'] = 4

without necessarily having to use the setpath helper.

You can do it without recursive defaultdicts too:

def setpath(d, p, k):
    if len(p) == 1:
        d[p[0]] = k
    else:
        setpath(d.setdefault(p[0], {}), p[1:], k)