Convert a String representation of a Dictionary to a dictionary?

Question

How can I convert the str representation of a dict, such as the following string, into a dict?

s = \"{\'muffin\' : \'l         


        

Answer 1

If the string can always be trusted, you could use eval (or use literal_eval as suggested; it's safe no matter what the string is.) Otherwise you need a parser. A JSON parser (such as simplejson) would work if he only ever stores content that fits with the JSON scheme.