Best way to store a large python dictionary in a file

Question

I have a python script (script 1) which generate a large python dictionary. This dictionary has to be read by an another script (script 2). Could any one suggest me the bes

Answer 1

shelve will give you access to each item separately, instead of requiring you to serialize and deserialize the entire dictionary each time.

Answer 2

If you want your dictionary to be readable by different types of scripts (i.e. not just Python), JSON is a good option as well.

It's not as fast as shelve, but it's easy to use and quite readable to the human eye.

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import json
with open("/tmp/test.json", "w") as out_handle:
    json.dump(my_dict, out_handle)  # save dictionary

with open("/tmp/test.json", "r") as in_handle:
    my_dict = json.load(in_handle)  # load dictionary