Check if value already exists within list of dictionaries?

Question

I\'ve got a Python list of dictionaries, as follows:

a = [
    {\'main_color\': \'red\', \'second_color\':\'blue\'},
    {\'main_color\': \'yellow\', \'secon         


        

Answer 1

Perhaps a function along these lines is what you're after:

 def add_unique_to_dict_list(dict_list, key, value):
  for d in dict_list:
     if key in d:
        return d[key]

  dict_list.append({ key: value })
  return value

Answer 2

Maybe this helps:

a = [{ 'main_color': 'red', 'second_color':'blue'},
     { 'main_color': 'yellow', 'second_color':'green'},
     { 'main_color': 'yellow', 'second_color':'blue'}]

def in_dictlist((key, value), my_dictlist):
    for this in my_dictlist:
        if this[key] == value:
            return this
    return {}

print in_dictlist(('main_color','red'), a)
print in_dictlist(('main_color','pink'), a)

Answer 3

Based on @Mark Byers great answer, and following @Florent question, just to indicate that it will also work with 2 conditions on list of dics with more than 2 keys:

names = []
names.append({'first': 'Nil', 'last': 'Elliot', 'suffix': 'III'})
names.append({'first': 'Max', 'last': 'Sam', 'suffix': 'IX'})
names.append({'first': 'Anthony', 'last': 'Mark', 'suffix': 'IX'})

if not any(d['first'] == 'Anthony' and d['last'] == 'Mark' for d in names):

    print('Not exists!')
else:
    print('Exists!')

Result:

Exists!

Answer 4

Here's one way to do it:

if not any(d['main_color'] == 'red' for d in a):
    # does not exist

The part in parentheses is a generator expression that returns True for each dictionary that has the key-value pair you are looking for, otherwise False.

---

If the key could also be missing the above code can give you a KeyError. You can fix this by using get and providing a default value. If you don't provide a default value, None is returned.

if not any(d.get('main_color', default_value) == 'red' for d in a):
    # does not exist