Sometimes, we want to remove a key from a Python dictionary.
In this article, we’ll look at how to remove a key from a Python dictionary.
How to remove a key from a Python dictionary?
To remove a key from a Python dictionary, we can use the pop method.
For instance, we write:
my_dict = {'foo': 'abc', 'bar': 2}
deleted = my_dict.pop('foo', None)
print(deleted)
print(my_dict)
We call pop with key of the item to delete and the fallback value of the entry that’s deleted if the entry with the key doesn’t exist.
Therefore, deleted is 'abc'.
And my_dict is {'bar': 2} after pop is called.
If the key exists for sure in the dictionary, we can also use the del operator.
For instance, we write:
my_dict = {'foo': 'abc', 'bar': 2}
del my_dict['foo']
print(my_dict)
Then we get the same result for my_dict.
Conclusion
To remove a key from a Python dictionary, we can use the pop method.
If the key exists for sure in the dictionary, we can also use the del operator.
