Convert structured string to dictionary

Question

virtualmin domain-list --multiline returns a structured string which I would like to convert to a list of dicts of dicts.

The string looks like this (there are sometimes missing values):

do.ma.in.1
    key1a: value1a
    key1b: value1b
    key1c:
    ...
do.ma.in.2
    key2a: value2a
    key2b: value2b
    ...
...

(the key: value pairs are indented by 4 spaces in the string)
which I would like to convert into this form:

[do.ma.in.1: {key1a: value1a, key1b: value1b, key1c: None ...}, 
do.ma.in.2: {key2a: value2a, key2b: value2b, ...}, ...

So far I did split the string with re.split("\s*(?=^\S)", str) which got me

[do.ma.in.1\n    key1a: value1a\n    key1b: value1b\n    key1c:\n    ..., 
do.ma.in.2\n    key2a: value2a\n    key2b: value2b\n    ..., ...

where the list items are just strings. (so no actual dictionary items)

Where do I go from there?

are those actual key name formats or are they just example key names? — depperm
– depperm, Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 15:47
Your hoped-for result isn't a valid Python expression. You seem to be confused about whether you want a list of dicts or a dict of dicts. — Robᵩ
– Robᵩ, Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 15:53
@Robᵩ: you mean rather {do.ma.in.1: {key1a: value1a, key1b: value1b, key1c: None ...}, do.ma.in.2: {key2a: value2a, key2b: value2b, ...}, ...}? That would be great too. Or is that also not possible? — sebastian
– sebastian, Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 15:57

Robᵩ · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-18 15:54:45Z

1

If it were me, I wouldn't use re. I would step through the data, line by line, assigning the values to the appropriate dict as I go:

from pprint import pprint

data = '''
do.ma.in.1
    key1a: value1a
    key1b: value1b
    key1c:
do.ma.in.2
    key2a: value2a
    key2b: value2b
'''

key = None
result = {}
for line in data.splitlines():
    if not line.strip():
        continue
    line = line.split(':', 1)
    if len(line) == 1:
        key = line[0].strip()
        result[key] = {}
    elif len(line) == 2:
        result[key][line[0].strip()] = line[1].strip()

pprint(result)

Result:

{'do.ma.in.1': {'key1a': 'value1a', 'key1b': 'value1b', 'key1c': ''},
 'do.ma.in.2': {'key2a': 'value2a', 'key2b': 'value2b'}}

answered Nov 18, 2016 at 15:54

Robᵩ

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1 Comment

sebastian Over a year ago

So good! I thought of that before but I thought that wouldn't be the elegant way. Thanks a bunch!

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