Add new keys to a dictionary in Python
January 30, 2023
The Problem
How can I add new keys to a dictionary in Python?
The Solution
Python provides a few different ways to add new key-value pairs to an existing dictionary. The simplest way is to assign a value to a new key using Python’s indexing/square brackets syntax:
prices = {"Apple": 1, "Orange": 2} # existing dictionary
prices["Avocado"] = 3 # new key-value pair
print(prices) # will print {"Apple": 1, "Orange": 2, "Avocado": 3}
This same syntax can be used to update existing key-value pairs:
prices["Apple"] = 2
print(prices) # will print {"Apple": 2, "Orange": 2, "Avocado": 3}
To add and update multiple key-value pairs at once, we can use Python’s
dict.update()
method:
prices.update({"Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2, "Orange": 3}) # adds Pear and Grapefruit, and updates Orange
print(prices) # will print {"Apple": 2, "Orange": 3, "Avocado": 3, "Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2}
You can also use the dictionary comprehension and dictionary constructor together to add or update the key-value pairs:
prices = {**prices, **{"Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2, "Orange": 3}}
print(prices) # will print {"Apple": 2, "Orange": 3, "Avocado": 3, "Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2}
As of
Python 3.9
, we can use the
update operator
(
|=
) instead of the
update()
method:
prices |= {"Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2, "Orange": 3} # adds Pear and Grapefruit and updates Orange
print(prices) # will print {"Apple": 2, "Orange": 3, "Avocado": 3, "Pear": 2, "Grapefruit": 2}
