Getting value using a key from a dictionary acts differently in 2 methods

I have a dictionary of key:value pair in this format:

py_dict = {
    "value": {
        "Timestamp(" "2020-04-05 02:48:00" ")": 699.0,
        "Timestamp(" "2020-06-26 07:36:00" ")": "nan",
        "Timestamp(" "2020-06-26 08:40:00" ")": 699.0,
     }
}   

I am able to grab the key I need (latest timestamp) using datetime.strptime()

timestamps = {
    datetime.strptime(key.strip('Timestamp("').strip('")'), "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"): value
    for key, value in py_dict["value"].items()
    if value != "nan"
}

# Find the maximum timestamp
latest_timestamp = max(timestamps)

# latest_timestamp returns <class 'datetime.datetime'> 2020-06-26 08:40:00

I convert the datetime object back to a string and format it to how the py_dict["value"] keys are structured

formatted_latest_timestamp_key = (
    'Timestamp(" "' + latest_timestamp.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") + '" ")'
)

# returns <class 'str'> Timestamp(" "2020-06-26 08:40:00" ")

When I run the dict.get() method against the formatted_latest_timestamp_key I get none

latest_price = py_dict["value"].get(f'"{formatted_latest_timestamp_key}"')

# returns none

But if I run py_dict["value"].get() on the hardcoded key , I get the respective price.

My Python version:

home = /usr/bin
include-system-site-packages = false
version = 3.10.12

>Solution :

I believe you are confused about the actual key values in this subdictionary:

py_dict = {
    "value": {
        "Timestamp(" "2020-04-05 02:48:00" ")": 699.0,
        "Timestamp(" "2020-06-26 07:36:00" ")": "nan",
        "Timestamp(" "2020-06-26 08:40:00" ")": 699.0,
     }
}

Looking at just the first key:

"Timestamp(" "2020-04-05 02:48:00" ")"

It is composed of three separate adjacent string literals:

Timestamp(
2020-04-05 02:48:00
)

When Python sees multiple adjacent string literals, they are joined together automatically. So the actual string key value is this:

Timestamp(2020-04-05 02:48:00)

It contains no double-quote characters, and only one space.

Here is a simplified example of this behavior:

>>> a = "hello" "there"
>>> print(a)
hellothere
>>>