这个问题的一个问题是字典的值可以是任意复杂的数据块。基于这些和其他答案，我得出了以下代码:

class YamlReaderError(Exception):
    pass

def data_merge(a, b):
    """merges b into a and return merged result

    NOTE: tuples and arbitrary objects are not handled as it is totally ambiguous what should happen"""
    key = None
    # ## debug output
    # sys.stderr.write("DEBUG: %s to %s\n" %(b,a))
    try:
        if a is None or isinstance(a, str) or isinstance(a, unicode) or isinstance(a, int) or isinstance(a, long) or isinstance(a, float):
            # border case for first run or if a is a primitive
            a = b
        elif isinstance(a, list):
            # lists can be only appended
            if isinstance(b, list):
                # merge lists
                a.extend(b)
            else:
                # append to list
                a.append(b)
        elif isinstance(a, dict):
            # dicts must be merged
            if isinstance(b, dict):
                for key in b:
                    if key in a:
                        a[key] = data_merge(a[key], b[key])
                    else:
                        a[key] = b[key]
            else:
                raise YamlReaderError('Cannot merge non-dict "%s" into dict "%s"' % (b, a))
        else:
            raise YamlReaderError('NOT IMPLEMENTED "%s" into "%s"' % (b, a))
    except TypeError, e:
        raise YamlReaderError('TypeError "%s" in key "%s" when merging "%s" into "%s"' % (e, key, b, a))
    return a

我的用例是合并YAML文件，其中我只需要处理可能的数据类型的子集。因此我可以忽略元组和其他对象。对我来说，合理的合并逻辑意味着

取代标量 添加列表 通过添加缺失键和更新现有键来合并字典

其他任何事情和不可预见的事情都会导致错误。

Short-n-sweet:

from collections.abc import MutableMapping as Map

def nested_update(d, v):
"""
Nested update of dict-like 'd' with dict-like 'v'.
"""

for key in v:
    if key in d and isinstance(d[key], Map) and isinstance(v[key], Map):
        nested_update(d[key], v[key])
    else:
        d[key] = v[key]

这类似于(并且构建在)Python的字典上。更新方法。它返回None(如果你喜欢，你总是可以添加返回d)，因为它在原地更新dict d。v中的键将覆盖d中任何现有的键(它不会尝试解释字典的内容)。

它也适用于其他(“类字典”)映射。

当然，代码将取决于您解决合并冲突的规则。这里有一个版本，它可以接受任意数量的参数，并递归地将它们合并到任意深度，而不使用任何对象突变。它使用以下规则来解决合并冲突:

字典优先于非字典值({"foo":{…}}优先于{"foo": "bar"}) 后面的参数优先于前面的参数(如果按顺序合并{"a": 1}， {"a"， 2}和{"a": 3}，结果将是{"a": 3})

try:
    from collections import Mapping
except ImportError:
    Mapping = dict

def merge_dicts(*dicts):                                                            
    """                                                                             
    Return a new dictionary that is the result of merging the arguments together.   
    In case of conflicts, later arguments take precedence over earlier arguments.   
    """                                                                             
    updated = {}                                                                    
    # grab all keys                                                                 
    keys = set()                                                                    
    for d in dicts:                                                                 
        keys = keys.union(set(d))                                                   

    for key in keys:                                                                
        values = [d[key] for d in dicts if key in d]                                
        # which ones are mapping types? (aka dict)                                  
        maps = [value for value in values if isinstance(value, Mapping)]            
        if maps:                                                                    
            # if we have any mapping types, call recursively to merge them          
            updated[key] = merge_dicts(*maps)                                       
        else:                                                                       
            # otherwise, just grab the last value we have, since later arguments    
            # take precedence over earlier arguments                                
            updated[key] = values[-1]                                               
    return updated  

这里有一个使用生成器的简单方法:

def mergedicts(dict1, dict2):
    for k in set(dict1.keys()).union(dict2.keys()):
        if k in dict1 and k in dict2:
            if isinstance(dict1[k], dict) and isinstance(dict2[k], dict):
                yield (k, dict(mergedicts(dict1[k], dict2[k])))
            else:
                # If one of the values is not a dict, you can't continue merging it.
                # Value from second dict overrides one in first and we move on.
                yield (k, dict2[k])
                # Alternatively, replace this with exception raiser to alert you of value conflicts
        elif k in dict1:
            yield (k, dict1[k])
        else:
            yield (k, dict2[k])

dict1 = {1:{"a":"A"},2:{"b":"B"}}
dict2 = {2:{"c":"C"},3:{"d":"D"}}

print dict(mergedicts(dict1,dict2))

这个打印:

{1: {'a': 'A'}, 2: {'c': 'C', 'b': 'B'}, 3: {'d': 'D'}}

如果你有一个未知级别的字典，那么我会建议一个递归函数:

def combineDicts(dictionary1, dictionary2):
    output = {}
    for item, value in dictionary1.iteritems():
        if dictionary2.has_key(item):
            if isinstance(dictionary2[item], dict):
                output[item] = combineDicts(value, dictionary2.pop(item))
        else:
            output[item] = value
    for item, value in dictionary2.iteritems():
         output[item] = value
    return output

我有一个迭代的解决方案-工作得更好的大字典&很多(例如jsons等):

import collections


def merge_dict_with_subdicts(dict1: dict, dict2: dict) -> dict:
    """
    similar behaviour to builtin dict.update - but knows how to handle nested dicts
    """
    q = collections.deque([(dict1, dict2)])
    while len(q) > 0:
        d1, d2 = q.pop()
        for k, v in d2.items():
            if k in d1 and isinstance(d1[k], dict) and isinstance(v, dict):
                q.append((d1[k], v))
            else:
                d1[k] = v

    return dict1

注意，这将使用d2中的值来覆盖d1，以防它们都不是字典。(与python的dict.update()相同)

一些测试:

def test_deep_update():
    d = dict()
    merge_dict_with_subdicts(d, {"a": 4})
    assert d == {"a": 4}

    new_dict = {
        "b": {
            "c": {
                "d": 6
            }
        }
    }
    merge_dict_with_subdicts(d, new_dict)
    assert d == {
        "a": 4,
        "b": {
            "c": {
                "d": 6
            }
        }
    }

    new_dict = {
        "a": 3,
        "b": {
            "f": 7
        }
    }
    merge_dict_with_subdicts(d, new_dict)
    assert d == {
        "a": 3,
        "b": {
            "c": {
                "d": 6
            },
            "f": 7
        }
    }

    # test a case where one of the dicts has dict as value and the other has something else
    new_dict = {
        'a': {
            'b': 4
        }
    }
    merge_dict_with_subdicts(d, new_dict)
    assert d['a']['b'] == 4

我已经测试了大约1200个字典——这种方法花了0.4秒，而递归的解决方案花了2.5秒。