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13 <body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="chapter" id="ch4strings_dicts"> |
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14 <div class="titlepage"></div> |
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15 <div class="toc"> |
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16 <p><b>Table of Contents</b></p> |
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17 <dl> |
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18 <dt><span class="article"><a href="#id2983496">Strings</a></span></dt> |
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19 <dd><dl> |
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20 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id2982083">1. String Formatting</a></span></dt> |
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21 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034500">2. String Methods</a></span></dt> |
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22 <dd><dl> |
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23 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034515">2.1. <span class="strong"><strong>find</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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24 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034545">2.2. <span class="strong"><strong>join</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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25 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034585">2.3. <span class="strong"><strong>lower</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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26 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034615">2.4. <span class="strong"><strong>replace</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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27 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034672">2.5. <span class="strong"><strong>split</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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28 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034731">2.6. <span class="strong"><strong>strip</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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29 </dl></dd> |
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30 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034775">3. Introduction to the standard library</a></span></dt> |
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31 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034853">4. I/O: Reading and Writing Files</a></span></dt> |
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32 <dd><dl> |
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33 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034883">4.1. Opening Files</a></span></dt> |
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34 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035057">4.2. Reading and Writing files</a></span></dt> |
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35 </dl></dd> |
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36 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035222">5. Dictionaries</a></span></dt> |
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37 <dd><dl> |
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38 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035278">5.1. <span class="strong"><strong>dict()</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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39 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035342">5.2. Dictionary Methods</a></span></dt> |
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40 </dl></dd> |
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41 </dl></dd> |
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42 </dl> |
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43 </div> |
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44 <div class="article" title="Strings"> |
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45 <div class="titlepage"> |
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46 <div><div><h2 class="title"> |
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47 <a name="id2983496"></a>Strings</h2></div></div> |
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48 <hr> |
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49 </div> |
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50 <div class="toc"> |
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51 <p><b>Table of Contents</b></p> |
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52 <dl> |
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53 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id2982083">1. String Formatting</a></span></dt> |
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54 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034500">2. String Methods</a></span></dt> |
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55 <dd><dl> |
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56 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034515">2.1. <span class="strong"><strong>find</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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57 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034545">2.2. <span class="strong"><strong>join</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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58 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034585">2.3. <span class="strong"><strong>lower</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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59 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034615">2.4. <span class="strong"><strong>replace</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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60 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034672">2.5. <span class="strong"><strong>split</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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61 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034731">2.6. <span class="strong"><strong>strip</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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62 </dl></dd> |
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63 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034775">3. Introduction to the standard library</a></span></dt> |
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64 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034853">4. I/O: Reading and Writing Files</a></span></dt> |
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65 <dd><dl> |
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66 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3034883">4.1. Opening Files</a></span></dt> |
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67 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035057">4.2. Reading and Writing files</a></span></dt> |
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68 </dl></dd> |
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69 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035222">5. Dictionaries</a></span></dt> |
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70 <dd><dl> |
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71 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035278">5.1. <span class="strong"><strong>dict()</strong></span></a></span></dt> |
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72 <dt><span class="section"><a href="#id3035342">5.2. Dictionary Methods</a></span></dt> |
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73 </dl></dd> |
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74 </dl> |
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75 </div> |
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76 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1"></a>Strings were briefly introduced previously in the introduction document. In this |
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77 section strings will be presented in greater detail. All the standard operations |
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78 that can be performed on sequences such as indexing, slicing, multiplication, length |
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79 minimum and maximum can be performed on string variables as well. One thing to |
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80 be noted is that strings are immutable, which means that string variables are |
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81 unchangeable. Hence, all item and slice assignments on strings are illegal. |
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82 Let us look at a few example.</p> |
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83 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> name = 'PythonFreak' |
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84 >>> print name[3] |
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85 h |
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86 >>> print name[-1] |
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87 k |
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88 >>> print name[6:] |
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89 Freak |
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90 >>> name[6:0] = 'Maniac' |
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91 Traceback (most recent call last): |
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92 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> |
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93 TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment</pre> |
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94 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2"></a>This is quite expected, since string objects are immutable as already mentioned. |
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95 The error message is clear in mentioning that 'str' object does not support item |
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96 assignment.</p> |
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97 <div class="section" title="1. String Formatting"> |
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98 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> |
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99 <a name="id2982083"></a>1. String Formatting</h2></div></div></div> |
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100 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_3"></a>String formatting can be performed using the string formatting operator represented |
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101 as the percent (%) sign. The string placed before the % sign is formatted with |
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102 the value placed to the right of it. Let us look at a simple example.</p> |
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103 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> format = 'Hello %s, from PythonFreak' |
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104 >>> str1 = 'world!' |
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105 >>> print format % str1 |
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106 Hello world!, from PythonFreak</pre> |
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107 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_4"></a>The %s parts of the format string are called the coversion specifiers. The coversion |
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108 specifiers mark the places where the formatting has to be performed in a string. |
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109 In the example the %s is replaced by the value of str1. More than one value can |
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110 also be formatted at a time by specifying the values to be formatted using tuples |
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111 and dictionaries (explained in later sections). Let us look at an example.</p> |
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112 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> format = 'Hello %s, from %s' |
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113 >>> values = ('world!', 'PythonFreak') |
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114 >>> print format % values |
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115 Hello world!, from PythonFreak</pre> |
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116 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_5"></a>In this example it can be observed that the format string contains two conversion |
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117 specifiers and they are formatted using the tuple of values as shown.</p> |
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118 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_6"></a>The s in %s specifies that the value to be replaced is of type string. Values of |
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119 other types can be specified as well such as integers and floats. Integers are |
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120 specified as %d and floats as %f. The precision with which the integer or the |
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121 float values are to be represented can also be specified using a <span class="strong"><strong>.</strong></span> (<span class="strong"><strong>dot</strong></span>) |
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122 followed by the precision value.</p> |
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123 </div> |
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124 <div class="section" title="2. String Methods"> |
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125 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> |
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126 <a name="id3034500"></a>2. String Methods</h2></div></div></div> |
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127 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_7"></a>Similar to list methods, strings also have a rich set of methods to perform various |
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128 operations on strings. Some of the most important and popular ones are presented |
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129 in this section.</p> |
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130 <div class="section" title="2.1. find"> |
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131 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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132 <a name="id3034515"></a>2.1. <span class="strong"><strong>find</strong></span> |
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133 </h3></div></div></div> |
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134 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_8"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>find</strong></span> method is used to search for a substring within a given string. It |
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135 returns the left most index of the first occurence of the substring. If the |
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136 substring is not found in the string then it returns -1. Let us look at a few |
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137 examples.</p> |
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138 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> longstring = 'Hello world!, from PythonFreak' |
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139 >>> longstring.find('Python') |
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140 19 |
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141 >>> longstring.find('Perl') |
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142 -1</pre> |
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143 </div> |
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144 <div class="section" title="2.2. join"> |
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145 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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146 <a name="id3034545"></a>2.2. <span class="strong"><strong>join</strong></span> |
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147 </h3></div></div></div> |
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148 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_9"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>join</strong></span> method is used to join the elements of a sequence. The sequence |
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149 elements that are to be join ed should all be strings. Let us look at a few |
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150 examples.</p> |
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151 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> seq = ['With', 'great', 'power', 'comes', 'great', 'responsibility'] |
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152 >>> sep = ' ' |
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153 >>> sep.join(seq) |
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154 'With great power comes great responsibility' |
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155 >>> sep = ',!' |
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156 >>> sep.join(seq) |
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157 'With,!great,!power,!comes,!great,!responsibility'</pre> |
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158 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_a"></a><span class="emphasis"><em>Try this yourself</em></span></p> |
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159 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> seq = [12,34,56,78] |
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160 >>> sep.join(seq)</pre> |
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161 </div> |
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162 <div class="section" title="2.3. lower"> |
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163 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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164 <a name="id3034585"></a>2.3. <span class="strong"><strong>lower</strong></span> |
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165 </h3></div></div></div> |
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166 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_b"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>lower</strong></span> method, as the name indicates, converts the entire text of a string |
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167 to lower case. It is specially useful in cases where the programmers deal with case |
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168 insensitive data. Let us look at a few examples.</p> |
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169 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> sometext = 'Hello world!, from PythonFreak' |
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170 >>> sometext.lower() |
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171 'hello world!, from pythonfreak'</pre> |
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172 </div> |
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173 <div class="section" title="2.4. replace"> |
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174 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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175 <a name="id3034615"></a>2.4. <span class="strong"><strong>replace</strong></span> |
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176 </h3></div></div></div> |
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177 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_c"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>replace</strong></span> method replaces a substring with another substring within |
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178 a given string and returns the new string. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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179 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> sometext = 'Concise, precise and criticise is some of the words that end with ise' |
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180 >>> sometext.replace('is', 'are') |
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181 'Concaree, precaree and criticaree are some of the words that end with aree'</pre> |
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182 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_d"></a>Observe here that all the occurences of the substring <span class="emphasis"><em>is</em></span> have been replaced, |
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183 even the <span class="emphasis"><em>is</em></span> in <span class="emphasis"><em>concise</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>precise</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>criticise</em></span> have been replaced.</p> |
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184 </div> |
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185 <div class="section" title="2.5. split"> |
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186 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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187 <a name="id3034672"></a>2.5. <span class="strong"><strong>split</strong></span> |
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188 </h3></div></div></div> |
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189 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_e"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>split</strong></span> is one of the very important string methods. split is the opposite of the |
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190 <span class="strong"><strong>join</strong></span> method. It is used to split a string based on the argument passed as the |
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191 delimiter. It returns a list of strings. By default when no argument is passed it |
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192 splits with <span class="emphasis"><em>space</em></span> (' ') as the delimiter. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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193 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> grocerylist = 'butter, cucumber, beer(a grocery item??), wheatbread' |
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194 >>> grocerylist.split(',') |
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195 ['butter', ' cucumber', ' beer(a grocery item??)', ' wheatbread'] |
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196 >>> grocerylist.split() |
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197 ['butter,', 'cucumber,', 'beer(a', 'grocery', 'item??),', 'wheatbread']</pre> |
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198 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_f"></a>Observe here that in the second case when the delimiter argument was not set |
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199 <span class="strong"><strong>split</strong></span> was done with <span class="emphasis"><em>space</em></span> as the delimiter.</p> |
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200 </div> |
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201 <div class="section" title="2.6. strip"> |
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202 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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203 <a name="id3034731"></a>2.6. <span class="strong"><strong>strip</strong></span> |
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204 </h3></div></div></div> |
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205 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_10"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>strip</strong></span> method is used to remove or <span class="strong"><strong>strip</strong></span> off any whitespaces that exist |
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206 to the left and right of a string, but not the whitespaces within a string. Let |
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207 us look at an example.</p> |
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208 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> spacedtext = " Where's the text?? " |
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209 >>> spacedtext.strip() |
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210 "Where's the text??"</pre> |
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211 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_11"></a>Observe that the whitespaces between the words have not been removed.</p> |
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212 <pre class="programlisting"> Note: Very important thing to note is that all the methods shown above do not |
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213 transform the source string. The source string still remains the same. |
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214 Remember that **strings are immutable**.</pre> |
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215 </div> |
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216 </div> |
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217 <div class="section" title="3. Introduction to the standard library"> |
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218 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> |
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219 <a name="id3034775"></a>3. Introduction to the standard library</h2></div></div></div> |
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220 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_12"></a>Python is often referred to as a "Batteries included!" language, mainly because |
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221 of the Python Standard Library. The Python Standard Library provides an extensive |
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222 set of features some of which are available directly for use while some require to |
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223 import a few <span class="strong"><strong>modules</strong></span>. The Standard Library provides various built-in functions |
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224 like:</p> |
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225 <span style="color: black"><span style="color: black"><span style="color: black"><p id="ch4strings_dicts_13"></a><span class="strong"><strong>abs()</strong></span></p></span><span style="color: black"><p id="ch4strings_dicts_14"></a><span class="strong"><strong>dict()</strong></span></p></span><span style="color: black"><p id="ch4strings_dicts_15"></a><span class="strong"><strong>enumerate()</strong></span></p></span></span></span><p id="ch4strings_dicts_16"></a>The built-in constants like <span class="strong"><strong>True</strong></span> and <span class="strong"><strong>False</strong></span> are provided by the Standard Library. |
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226 More information about the Python Standard Library is available </p> |
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227 <div class="reference"> |
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228 <div class="titlepage"><hr></div>http://docs.python.org/library/</div> |
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229 </div> |
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230 <div class="section" title="4. I/O: Reading and Writing Files"> |
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231 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> |
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232 <a name="id3034853"></a>4. I/O: Reading and Writing Files</h2></div></div></div> |
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233 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_17"></a>Files are very important aspects when it comes to computing and programming. |
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234 Up until now the focus has been on small programs that interacted with users |
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235 through <span class="strong"><strong>input()</strong></span> and <span class="strong"><strong>raw_input()</strong></span>. Generally, for computational purposes |
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236 it becomes necessary to handle files, which are usually large in size as well. |
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237 This section focuses on basics of file handling.</p> |
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238 <div class="section" title="4.1. Opening Files"> |
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239 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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240 <a name="id3034883"></a>4.1. Opening Files</h3></div></div></div> |
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241 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_18"></a>Files can be opened using the <span class="strong"><strong>open()</strong></span> method. <span class="strong"><strong>open()</strong></span> accepts 3 arguments |
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242 out of which 2 are optional. Let us look at the syntax of <span class="strong"><strong>open()</strong></span>:</p> |
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243 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_19"></a><span class="emphasis"><em>f = open( filename, mode, buffering)</em></span></p> |
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244 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1a"></a>The <span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span> is a compulsory argument while the <span class="emphasis"><em>mode</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>buffering</em></span> are |
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245 optional. The <span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span> should be a string and it should be the complete path |
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246 to the file to be opened (The path can be absolute or relative). Let us look at |
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247 an example.</p> |
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248 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> f = open ('basic_python/interim_assessment.rst')</pre> |
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249 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1b"></a>The <span class="emphasis"><em>mode</em></span> argument specifies the mode in which the file has to be opened. |
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250 The following are the valid mode arguments:</p> |
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251 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1c"></a><span class="strong"><strong>r</strong></span> - Read mode |
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252 <span class="strong"><strong>w</strong></span> - Write mode |
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253 <span class="strong"><strong>a</strong></span> - Append mode |
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254 <span class="strong"><strong>b</strong></span> - Binary mode |
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255 <span class="strong"><strong>+</strong></span> - Read/Write mode</p> |
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256 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1d"></a>The read mode opens the file as a read-only document. The write mode opens the |
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257 file in the Write only mode. In the write mode, if the file existed prior to the |
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258 opening, the previous contents of the file are erased. The append mode opens the |
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259 file in the write mode but the previous contents of the file are not erased and |
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260 the current data is appended onto the file. |
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261 The binary and the read/write modes are special in the sense that they are added |
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262 onto other modes. The read/write mode opens the file in the reading and writing |
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263 mode combined. The binary mode can be used to open a files that do not contain |
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264 text. Binary files such as images should be opened in the binary mode. Let us look |
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265 at a few examples.</p> |
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266 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> f = open ('basic_python/interim_assessment.rst', 'r') |
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267 >>> f = open ('armstrong.py', 'r+')</pre> |
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268 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1e"></a>The third argument to the <span class="strong"><strong>open()</strong></span> method is the <span class="emphasis"><em>buffering</em></span> argument. This takes |
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269 a boolean value, <span class="emphasis"><em>True</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>1</em></span> indicates that buffering has to be enabled on the file, |
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270 that is the file is loaded on to the main memory and the changes made to the file are |
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271 not immediately written to the disk. If the <span class="emphasis"><em>buffering</em></span> argument is <span class="emphasis"><em>0</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>False</em></span> the |
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272 changes are directly written on to the disk immediately.</p> |
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273 </div> |
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274 <div class="section" title="4.2. Reading and Writing files"> |
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275 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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276 <a name="id3035057"></a>4.2. Reading and Writing files</h3></div></div></div> |
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277 <div class="section" title="4.2.1. write()"> |
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278 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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279 <a name="id3035066"></a>4.2.1. <span class="strong"><strong>write()</strong></span> |
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280 </h4></div></div></div> |
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281 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_1f"></a><span class="strong"><strong>write()</strong></span>, evidently, is used to write data onto a file. It takes the data to |
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282 be written as the argument. The data can be a string, an integer, a float or any |
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283 other datatype. In order to be able to write data onto a file, the file has to |
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284 be opened in one of <span class="strong"><strong>w</strong></span>, <span class="strong"><strong>a</strong></span> or <span class="strong"><strong>+</strong></span> modes.</p> |
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285 </div> |
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286 <div class="section" title="4.2.2. read()"> |
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287 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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288 <a name="id3035105"></a>4.2.2. <span class="strong"><strong>read()</strong></span> |
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289 </h4></div></div></div> |
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290 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_20"></a><span class="strong"><strong>read()</strong></span> is used to read data from a file. It takes the number of bytes of data |
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291 to be read as the argument. If nothing is specified by default it reads the entire |
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292 contents from the current position to the end of file.</p> |
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293 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_21"></a>Let us look at a few examples:</p> |
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294 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> f = open ('randomtextfile', 'w') |
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295 >>> f.write('Hello all, this is PythonFreak. This is a random text file.') |
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296 >>> f = open ('../randomtextfile', 'r') |
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297 >>> f = open ('../randomtextfile', 'r') |
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298 >>> f.read(5) |
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299 'Hello' |
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300 >>> f.read() |
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301 ' all, this is PythonFreak. This is a random text file.' |
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302 >>> f.close()</pre> |
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303 </div> |
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304 <div class="section" title="4.2.3. readline()"> |
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305 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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306 <a name="id3035140"></a>4.2.3. <span class="strong"><strong>readline()</strong></span> |
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307 </h4></div></div></div> |
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308 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_22"></a><span class="strong"><strong>readline()</strong></span> is used to read a file line by line. <span class="strong"><strong>readline()</strong></span> reads a line |
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309 of a file at a time. When an argument is passed to <span class="strong"><strong>readline()</strong></span> it reads that |
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310 many bytes from the current line.</p> |
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311 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_23"></a>One other method to read a file line by line is using the <span class="strong"><strong>read()</strong></span> and the |
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312 <span class="strong"><strong>for</strong></span> construct. Let us look at this block of code as an example.</p> |
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313 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> f = open('../randomtextfile', 'r') |
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314 >>> for line in f: |
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315 ... print line |
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316 ... |
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317 Hello all! |
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318 |
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319 This is PythonFreak on the second line. |
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320 |
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321 This is a random text file on line 3</pre> |
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322 </div> |
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323 <div class="section" title="4.2.4. close()"> |
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324 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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325 <a name="id3035199"></a>4.2.4. <span class="strong"><strong>close()</strong></span> |
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326 </h4></div></div></div> |
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327 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_24"></a>One must always close all the files that have been opened. Although, files opened |
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328 will be closed automatically when the program ends. When files opened in read mode |
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329 are not closed it might lead to uselessly locked sometimes. In case of files |
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330 opened in the write mode it is more important to close the files. This is because, |
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331 Python maybe using the file in the buffering mode and when the file is not closed |
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332 the buffer maybe lost completely and the changes made to the file are lost forever.</p> |
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333 </div> |
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334 </div> |
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335 </div> |
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336 <div class="section" title="5. Dictionaries"> |
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337 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"> |
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338 <a name="id3035222"></a>5. Dictionaries</h2></div></div></div> |
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339 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_25"></a>A dictionary in general, are designed to be able to look up meanings of words. |
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340 Similarly, the Python dictionaries are also designed to look up for a specific |
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341 key and retrieve the corresponding value. Dictionaries are data structures that |
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342 provide key-value mappings. Dictionaries are similar to lists except that instead |
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343 of the values having integer indexes, dictionaries have keys or strings as indexes. |
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344 Let us look at an example of how to define dictionaries.</p> |
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345 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> dct = { 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid', 'Anil': 'Kumble'}</pre> |
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346 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_26"></a>The dictionary consists of pairs of strings, which are called <span class="emphasis"><em>keys</em></span> and their |
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347 corresponding <span class="emphasis"><em>values</em></span> separated by <span class="emphasis"><em>:</em></span> and each of these <span class="emphasis"><em>key-value</em></span> pairs are |
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348 comma(',') separated and the entire structure wrapped in a pair curly braces <span class="emphasis"><em>{}</em></span>.</p> |
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349 <pre class="programlisting"> Note: The data inside a dictionary is not ordered. The order in which you enter |
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350 the key-value pairs is not the order in which they are stored in the dictionary. |
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351 Python has an internal storage mechanism for that which is out of the purview |
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352 of this document.</pre> |
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353 <div class="section" title="5.1. dict()"> |
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354 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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355 <a name="id3035278"></a>5.1. <span class="strong"><strong>dict()</strong></span> |
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356 </h3></div></div></div> |
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357 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_27"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>dict()</strong></span> function is used to create dictionaries from other mappings or other |
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358 dictionaries. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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359 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> diction = dict(mat = 133, avg = 52.53)</pre> |
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360 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_28"></a><span class="strong"><strong>String Formatting with Dictionaries:</strong></span></p> |
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361 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_29"></a>String formatting was discussed in the previous section and it was mentioned that |
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362 dictionaries can also be used for formatting more than one value. This section |
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363 focuses on the formatting of strings using dictionaries. String formatting using |
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364 dictionaries is more appealing than doing the same with tuples. Here the <span class="emphasis"><em>keyword</em></span> |
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365 can be used as a place holder and the <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span> corresponding to it is replaced in |
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366 the formatted string. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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367 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> player = { 'Name':'Rahul Dravid', 'Matches':133, 'Avg':52.53, '100s':26 } |
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368 >>> strng = '%(Name)s has played %(Matches)d with an average of %(Avg).2f and has %(100s)d hundreds to his name.' |
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369 >>> print strng % player |
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370 Rahul Dravid has played 133 with an average of 52.53 and has 26 hundreds to his name.</pre> |
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371 </div> |
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372 <div class="section" title="5.2. Dictionary Methods"> |
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373 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"> |
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374 <a name="id3035342"></a>5.2. Dictionary Methods</h3></div></div></div> |
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375 <div class="section" title="5.2.1. clear()"> |
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376 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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377 <a name="id3035351"></a>5.2.1. <span class="strong"><strong>clear()</strong></span> |
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378 </h4></div></div></div> |
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379 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2a"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>clear()</strong></span> method removes all the existing <span class="emphasis"><em>key-value</em></span> pairs from a dictionary. |
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380 It returns <span class="emphasis"><em>None</em></span> or rather does not return anything. It is a method that changes |
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381 the object. It has to be noted here that dictionaries are not immutable. Let us |
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382 look at an example.</p> |
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383 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> dct |
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384 {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'} |
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385 >>> dct.clear() |
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386 >>> dct |
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387 {}</pre> |
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388 </div> |
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389 <div class="section" title="5.2.2. copy()"> |
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390 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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391 <a name="id3035386"></a>5.2.2. <span class="strong"><strong>copy()</strong></span> |
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392 </h4></div></div></div> |
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393 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2b"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>copy()</strong></span> returns a copy of a given dictionary. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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394 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> dct = {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'} |
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395 >>> dctcopy = dct.copy() |
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396 >>> dctcopy |
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397 {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'}</pre> |
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398 </div> |
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399 <div class="section" title="5.2.3. get()"> |
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400 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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401 <a name="id3035417"></a>5.2.3. <span class="strong"><strong>get()</strong></span> |
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402 </h4></div></div></div> |
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403 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2c"></a><span class="strong"><strong>get()</strong></span> returns the <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span> for the <span class="emphasis"><em>key</em></span> passed as the argument and if the |
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404 <span class="emphasis"><em>key</em></span> does not exist in the dictionary, it returns <span class="emphasis"><em>None</em></span>. Let us look at an |
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405 example.</p> |
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406 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> print dctcopy.get('Saurav') |
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407 None |
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408 >>> print dctcopy.get('Anil') |
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409 Kumble</pre> |
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410 </div> |
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411 <div class="section" title="5.2.4. has_key()"> |
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412 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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413 <a name="id3035455"></a>5.2.4. <span class="strong"><strong>has_key()</strong></span> |
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414 </h4></div></div></div> |
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415 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2d"></a>This method returns <span class="emphasis"><em>True</em></span> if the given <span class="emphasis"><em>key</em></span> is in the dictionary, else it returns |
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416 <span class="emphasis"><em>False</em></span>.</p> |
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417 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> dctcopy.has_key('Saurav') |
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418 False |
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419 >>> dctcopy.has_key('Sachin') |
|
420 True</pre> |
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421 </div> |
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422 <div class="section" title="5.2.5. pop()"> |
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423 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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424 <a name="id3035485"></a>5.2.5. <span class="strong"><strong>pop()</strong></span> |
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425 </h4></div></div></div> |
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426 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2e"></a>This method is used to retrieve the <span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span> of a given <span class="emphasis"><em>key</em></span> and subsequently |
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427 remove the <span class="emphasis"><em>key-value</em></span> pair from the dictionary. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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428 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> print dctcopy.pop('Sachin') |
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429 Tendulkar |
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430 >>> dctcopy |
|
431 {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'}</pre> |
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432 </div> |
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433 <div class="section" title="5.2.6. popitem()"> |
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434 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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435 <a name="id3035519"></a>5.2.6. <span class="strong"><strong>popitem()</strong></span> |
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436 </h4></div></div></div> |
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437 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_2f"></a>This method randomly pops a <span class="emphasis"><em>key-value</em></span> pair from a dictionary and returns it. |
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438 The <span class="emphasis"><em>key-value</em></span> pair returned is removed from the dictionary. Let us look at an |
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439 example.</p> |
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440 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> print dctcopy.popitem() |
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441 ('Anil', 'Kumble') |
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442 >>> dctcopy |
|
443 {'Rahul': 'Dravid'} |
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444 |
|
445 Note that the item chosen is completely random since dictionaries are unordered |
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446 as mentioned earlier.</pre> |
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447 </div> |
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448 <div class="section" title="5.2.7. update()"> |
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449 <div class="titlepage"><div><div><h4 class="title"> |
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450 <a name="id3035555"></a>5.2.7. <span class="strong"><strong>update()</strong></span> |
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451 </h4></div></div></div> |
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452 <p id="ch4strings_dicts_30"></a>The <span class="strong"><strong>update()</strong></span> method updates the contents of one dictionary with the contents |
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453 of another dictionary. For items with existing <span class="emphasis"><em>keys</em></span> their <span class="emphasis"><em>values</em></span> are updated, |
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454 and the rest of the items are added. Let us look at an example.</p> |
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455 <pre class="programlisting"> >>> dctcopy.update(dct) |
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456 >>> dct |
|
457 {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'} |
|
458 >>> dctcopy |
|
459 {'Anil': 'Kumble', 'Sachin': 'Tendulkar', 'Rahul': 'Dravid'}</pre> |
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460 </div> |
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461 </div> |
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462 </div> |
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463 </div> |
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464 </div></body> |
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465 </html> |