Creating a new dictionary in Python

Question

I want to build a dictionary in Python. However, all the examples that I see are instantiating a dictionary from a list, etc . ..

How do I create a new empty diction

Answer 1

Knowing how to write a preset dictionary is useful to know as well:

cmap =  {'US':'USA','GB':'Great Britain'}

# Explicitly:
# -----------
def cxlate(country):
    try:
        ret = cmap[country]
    except KeyError:
        ret = '?'
    return ret

present = 'US' # this one is in the dict
missing = 'RU' # this one is not

print cxlate(present) # == USA
print cxlate(missing) # == ?

# or, much more simply as suggested below:

print cmap.get(present,'?') # == USA
print cmap.get(missing,'?') # == ?

# with country codes, you might prefer to return the original on failure:

print cmap.get(present,present) # == USA
print cmap.get(missing,missing) # == RU