Change values in dict of nested dicts using items in a list?

Question

How would you modify/create keys/values in a dict of nested dicts based on the values of a list, in which the last item of the list is a value for the dict, and the rest of

Answer 1

To insert a new key-value pair or update the value of a pair:

import copy
def update_nested_map(d, u, *keys):
    d = copy.deepcopy(d)
    keys = keys[0]
    if len(keys) > 1:
        d[keys[0]] = update_nested_map(d[keys[0]], u, keys[1:])
    else:
        d[keys[0]] = u
    return d

test:

    >>> d = {'m': {'d': {'v': {'w': 1}}}}

    >>> update_nested_map(d, 999, ['m', 'd', 'v', 'w'])
    {'m': {'d': {'v': {'w': 999}}}}

    >>> update_nested_map(d, 999, ['m', 'd', 'v', 'z'])
    {'m': {'d': {'v': {'z': 999, 'w': 1}}}}

    >>> update_nested_map(d, 999, ['m', 'd', 'l'])
    {'m': {'d': {'v': {'w': 1}, 'l': 999}}}

    >>> update_nested_map(d, 999, ['m','d'])
    {'m': {'d': 999}}