Parse nested dictionary conveniently

What is the best way to index a deeply nested dictionary? Consider the following example:

x = {'a': {'b': {'c': {'d': 1}}}}
item = x['a']['b']['c']['d']

Is there a convenient way to provide a path maybe?

# something like this
item = x.get_path('a/b/c/d')

>Solution :

You can build a simple approach, using the built-in library, as below:

from functools import reduce, partial
from operator import getitem

nested_get = partial(reduce, getitem)


x = {'a': {'b': {'c': {'d': 1}}}}

item = nested_get(["a", "b", "c", "d"], x)
print(item)

Output

1

UPDATE

To emulate the behavior of dict.get, use:

def nested_get(path, d, default=None):
    current = d
    for key in path:
        try:
            current = current[key]
        except KeyError:
            return default
    return current


x = {'a': {'b': {'c': {'d': 1}}}}

item = nested_get(["a", "b", "c", "d"], x)
print(item)
item = nested_get(["a", "b", "e", "d"], x)
print(item)

Output

1
None