How to set default value to all keys of a dict object in python?

Question

I know you can use setdefault(key, value) to set default value for a given key, but is there a way to set default values of all keys to some value after creating a dict ?

Answer 1

In case you actually mean what you seem to ask, I'll provide this alternative answer.

You say you want the dict to return a specified value, you do not say you want to set that value at the same time, like defaultdict does. This will do so:

class DictWithDefault(dict):
    def __init__(self, default, **kwargs):
        self.default = default
        super(DictWithDefault, self).__init__(**kwargs)

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        if key in self:
            return super(DictWithDefault, self).__getitem__(key)
        return self.default

Use like this:

d = DictWIthDefault(99, x=5, y=3)
print d["x"]   # 5
print d[42]    # 99
42 in d        # False
d[42] = 3
42 in d        # True

Alternatively, you can use a standard dict like this:

d = {3: 9, 4: 2}
default = 99
print d.get(3, default)  # 9
print d.get(42, default) # 99