Nested defaultdict of defaultdict

Question

Is there a way to make a defaultdict also be the default for the defaultdict? (i.e. infinite-level recursive defaultdict?)

I want to be able to do:

x         


        

Answer 1

I would also propose more OOP-styled implementation, which supports infinite nesting as well as properly formatted repr.

class NestedDefaultDict(defaultdict):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(NestedDefaultDict, self).__init__(NestedDefaultDict, *args, **kwargs)

    def __repr__(self):
        return repr(dict(self))

Usage:

my_dict = NestedDefaultDict()
my_dict['a']['b'] = 1
my_dict['a']['c']['d'] = 2
my_dict['b']

print(my_dict)  # {'a': {'b': 1, 'c': {'d': 2}}, 'b': {}}

Answer 2

here is a recursive function to convert a recursive default dict to a normal dict

def defdict_to_dict(defdict, finaldict):
    # pass in an empty dict for finaldict
    for k, v in defdict.items():
        if isinstance(v, defaultdict):
            # new level created and that is the new value
            finaldict[k] = defdict_to_dict(v, {})
        else:
            finaldict[k] = v
    return finaldict

defdict_to_dict(my_rec_default_dict, {})