How to copy a dictionary and only edit the copy

Question

Can someone please explain this to me? This doesn\'t make any sense to me.

I copy a dictionary into another and edit the second and both are changed. Why is this hap

Answer 1

While dict.copy() and dict(dict1) generates a copy, they are only shallow copies. If you want a deep copy, copy.deepcopy(dict1) is required. An example:

>>> source = {'a': 1, 'b': {'m': 4, 'n': 5, 'o': 6}, 'c': 3}
>>> copy1 = x.copy()
>>> copy2 = dict(x)
>>> import copy
>>> copy3 = copy.deepcopy(x)
>>> source['a'] = 10  # a change to first-level properties won't affect copies
>>> source
{'a': 10, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 4, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy1
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 4, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy2
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 4, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy3
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 4, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> source['b']['m'] = 40  # a change to deep properties WILL affect shallow copies 'b.m' property
>>> source
{'a': 10, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 40, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy1
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 40, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy2
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 40, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}
>>> copy3  # Deep copy's 'b.m' property is unaffected
{'a': 1, 'c': 3, 'b': {'m': 4, 'o': 6, 'n': 5}}

Regarding shallow vs deep copies, from the Python copy module docs:

The difference between shallow and deep copying is only relevant for compound objects (objects that contain other objects, like lists or class instances):

• A shallow copy constructs a new compound object and then (to the extent possible) inserts references into it to the objects found in the original.
• A deep copy constructs a new compound object and then, recursively, inserts copies into it of the objects found in the original.