Problems to create a nested Python dictonary

Question

I try to create a dictonary with Python 3. Here is my code:

data = {}
data['price'] = []
data['place1'] = []
data['place2'] = []

data['place1'].append({
    'x': 2,
    'y': 1
})
data['place2'].append({
    'a': 5,
    'b': 6
})

data['price'].append(data['place1'])
data['price'].append(data['place2'])
print(data)

so the output ist:

{'price': [[{'x': 2, 'y': 1}], [{'a': 5, 'b': 6}]], 'place1': [{'x': 2, 'y': 1}], 'place2': [{'a': 5, 'b': 6}]}

But I need it like in this example:

'price'
->'place1'
   ->'x'=2
   ->'y'=1
->'place2'
   ->'a'=5
   ->'b'=6

Is diconary the correct method for this?

Thanks for your help, Best, Marius

Answer 1

Well, you're appending lists here: data['price'].append(data['place1']) , so now data['price'] is a list of lists.

You can write a simple dictionary literal instead:

data = {
 'price': {
  'place1': {
   'x': 2,
   'y': 1
  },
  'place2': {
    'a': 5,
    'b': 6
  }
 }
}

Or, if you insist on appending data dynamically:

data = {'price': {}}
data['price']['place1'] = {'x': 2, 'y': 1}
data['price']['place2'] = {'a': 5, 'b': b}

Answer 2

Just to keep the original content as much as possible, you need to make data['price'] a dict then put place1 and place2 inside it.

data = {}
data['price'] = {}
data['price']['place1'] = []
data['price']['place2'] = []

data['price']['place1'].append({
    'x': 2,
    'y': 1
})
data['price']['place2'].append({
    'a': 5,
    'b': 6
})

Answer 3

No, you cannot map the (:) on the dictionary to an (=) sign as your output.