Easy Dict

Working with dictionaries is something you'll do in almost every Python project. Whether you're combining data, searching for values, sorting keys, or accessing nested information, easy_dict provides beginner-friendly helpers that make common dictionary operations simple and easy to read.

A small real-world example

Imagine you're working with user information stored in several dictionaries. You want to combine the data, rename a key, and access information stored inside a nested dictionary.

from py_simple import merge_dicts, rename_key, get_nested_value

user = {"name": "Ana", "age": 25}
extra_data = {"country": "Spain"}

user = merge_dicts(user, extra_data)
user = rename_key(user, "name", "username")

print(user)

Example output:

{'age': 25, 'country': 'Spain', 'username': 'Ana'}

You can also retrieve values from nested dictionaries without manually checking every level:

from py_simple import get_nested_value

data = {
    "user": {
        "profile": {
            "name": "Ana"
        }
    }
}

name = get_nested_value(data, "user.profile.name")

print(name)

Example output:

Ana

What happened?

merge_dicts() combines two dictionaries into one. If both dictionaries contain the same key, the value from the second dictionary is kept.

rename_key() creates a copy of a dictionary with one key renamed without modifying the original dictionary.

get_nested_value() retrieves a value from a nested dictionary using a simple dot-separated path such as "user.profile.name".

The module also provides helpers for other common dictionary operations, such as converting two lists into a dictionary, inverting keys and values, sorting by keys or values, finding keys with a specific value, counting values, and finding the most common value.

For example:

from py_simple import sort_dict_by_value, find_keys, most_common_value

data = {"a": 2, "b": 1, "c": 2}

print(sort_dict_by_value(data))
print(find_keys(2, data))
print(most_common_value(data))

Example output:

{'b': 1, 'a': 2, 'c': 2}
['a', 'c']
2

Why use these helpers?

Instead of repeatedly writing dictionary comprehensions, loops, .update(), .pop(), and nested dictionary checks, you can simply write:

user = merge_dicts(user, extra_data)
user = rename_key(user, "name", "username")

name = get_nested_value(data, "user.profile.name")

These helpers keep dictionary operations simple, readable, and beginner-friendly while providing useful tools for manipulating, searching, sorting, and analyzing dictionaries.