How to pass dictionary as command line argument to Python script?

Question

How to pass dictionary as command line argument to Python script? I need to get dictionary where key is string and value is list of some elements – for example to look like:

Answer 1

Here's another method using stdin. That's the method you want for a json cgi interface (i.e. having a web server pass the request to your script):

Python:

 import json, sys
 request = json.load( sys.stdin )
...

To test your script from a Linux terminal:

echo '{ "key1": "value 1", "key2": "value 2" }' | python myscript.py

To test your script from a Windows terminal:

echo { "key1": "value 1", "key2": "value 2" } | python myscript.py