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

As others have explained, the built-in dict does not do what you want. But in Python2 (and probably 3 too) you can easily create a ValueDict class that copies with = so you can be sure that the original will not change.

class ValueDict(dict):

    def __ilshift__(self, args):
        result = ValueDict(self)
        if isinstance(args, dict):
            dict.update(result, args)
        else:
            dict.__setitem__(result, *args)
        return result # Pythonic LVALUE modification

    def __irshift__(self, args):
        result = ValueDict(self)
        dict.__delitem__(result, args)
        return result # Pythonic LVALUE modification

    def __setitem__(self, k, v):
        raise AttributeError, \
            "Use \"value_dict<<='%s', ...\" instead of \"d[%s] = ...\"" % (k,k)

    def __delitem__(self, k):
        raise AttributeError, \
            "Use \"value_dict>>='%s'\" instead of \"del d[%s]" % (k,k)

    def update(self, d2):
        raise AttributeError, \
            "Use \"value_dict<<=dict2\" instead of \"value_dict.update(dict2)\""


# test
d = ValueDict()

d <<='apples', 5
d <<='pears', 8
print "d =", d

e = d
e <<='bananas', 1
print "e =", e
print "d =", d

d >>='pears'
print "d =", d
d <<={'blueberries': 2, 'watermelons': 315}
print "d =", d
print "e =", e
print "e['bananas'] =", e['bananas']


# result
d = {'apples': 5, 'pears': 8}
e = {'apples': 5, 'pears': 8, 'bananas': 1}
d = {'apples': 5, 'pears': 8}
d = {'apples': 5}
d = {'watermelons': 315, 'blueberries': 2, 'apples': 5}
e = {'apples': 5, 'pears': 8, 'bananas': 1}
e['bananas'] = 1

# e[0]=3
# would give:
# AttributeError: Use "value_dict<<='0', ..." instead of "d[0] = ..."

Please refer to the lvalue modification pattern discussed here: Python 2.7 - clean syntax for lvalue modification. The key observation is that str and int behave as values in Python (even though they're actually immutable objects under the hood). While you're observing that, please also observe that nothing is magically special about str or int. dict can be used in much the same ways, and I can think of many cases where ValueDict makes sense.