Append to a list inside of a nested dictionary in Python

Question

I am trying to load a JSON file with Python and extract only the necessary data with the following code. Is there any way to accomplish this in a better/simpler way? I feel like this could be done using defaultdict in collections and without if statement but cannot figure out.

import json

with open('somedata.json') as f:
    json_data = json.load(f)

main_dict = {}

for item in json_data:
    values1_list = item['sub_values1']
    values2_str = item['sub_values2']

    if item['main_key'] in main_dict:
        main_dict[item['main_key']]['sub_key1'].append(values1_list)
    else:
        main_dict['main_key'] = {'sub_key1': values1_list, 'sub_key2': values2_str}

rkrzr · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-04 13:49:53Z

1

You can use the setdefault method on your main_dict:

main_dict = {}
for item in json_data:
    values1_list = item['sub_values1']
    values2_str = item['sub_values2']
    vals = main_dict.setdefault('main_key', {'sub_key1': values1_list, 'sub_key2': values2_str})
    vals['sub_key1'].append(values1_list)

answered Jan 4, 2016 at 13:49

rkrzr

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