How to remove items from a dictionary in Python

Dictionaries in Python are used to store information that comes in key-value pairs. A dictionary contains a key and its value.

Example

Each country ( key) has its capital (value), and in this context, the different countries can be a key, whereas their respective capitals are their values.

Let’s take a look at the code below:

countries={‘Ghana’: ’Accra’}
print(countries)

Code explanation

We create a dictionary named countries, where Ghana is the key, and Accra is the value.

Code output

{'Ghana': 'Accra'}

The code returns a dictionary as expected.

How to remove items from a dictionary

We can use the following methods to remove items from a dictionary in Python: * The ``del`` keyword * The ``clear()`` method * The ``pop()`` method * The `popitem()` method

The ``del`` keyword

The **``del``** keyword method uses the keyword from the dictionary to remove an item.

Example

countries={"Ghana": "Accra", "China": "Beijing"}
# using the del keyword
del countries["China"]
print(countries)

The ``clear()`` method

The **``clear()``** method clears all the items in the dictionary.

Example

countries={"Ghana": "Accra", "China": "Beijing"}
# using the clear() method
countries.clear()
print(countries)

The ``pop()`` method

The **`pop`** method uses the keyword from the given dictionary to remove an item from that dictionary. The `pop` method is similar to the `del` keyword method because they both use the keyword from the dictionary.

Example

countries={"Ghana": "Accra", "China": "Beijing"}
# using the pop() method
countries.pop("China")
print(countries)

The `popitem()` method

The **``popitem()``** removes the last item added to the dictionary.

Example

countries={"Ghana": "Accra", "China": "Beijing"}
# using the clear() method
countries.popitem()
print(countries)

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