NEWB: how to convert a string to dict (dictionary)

[Jorge Godoy]

manstey wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> How do I convert a string like:
> a="{'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS': u'8'}"
> 
> into a dictionary:
> b={'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS': u'8'}
> 
> Thanks, Matthew
> 
> PS why in Python is it so often easy to convert one way but not the
> other?

I don't belive it is Python's fault.  In fact, you're going from a data
structure that contains enough information to be converted to a string in
one way -- dict to string -- while you're going from another data structure
that has no information at all about its contents on the other way --
string to dict/list/whatever.

Anyway:

In [1]:a="{'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS':
u'8'}"

In [2]:type(a)
Out[2]:<type 'str'>

In [3]:b = eval(a)

In [4]:type(b)
Out[4]:<type 'dict'>

In [5]:b
Out[5]:{'syllable': u'cv-i b.v^ y^-f', 'ketiv-qere': 'n', 'wordWTS': u'8'}


Be seeing you,
-- 
Jorge Godoy      <godoy at ieee.org>

"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur."
- Qualquer coisa dita em latim soa profundo.
- Anything said in Latin sounds smart.