这是一个返回任意深度的嵌套字典的函数:

from collections import defaultdict
def make_dict():
    return defaultdict(make_dict)

像这样使用它:

d=defaultdict(make_dict)
d["food"]["meat"]="beef"
d["food"]["veggie"]="corn"
d["food"]["sweets"]="ice cream"
d["animal"]["pet"]["dog"]="collie"
d["animal"]["pet"]["cat"]="tabby"
d["animal"]["farm animal"]="chicken"

迭代所有内容，如下所示:

def iter_all(d,depth=1):
    for k,v in d.iteritems():
        print "-"*depth,k
        if type(v) is defaultdict:
            iter_all(v,depth+1)
        else:
            print "-"*(depth+1),v

iter_all(d)

打印出来:

- food
-- sweets
--- ice cream
-- meat
--- beef
-- veggie
--- corn
- animal
-- pet
--- dog
---- labrador
--- cat
---- tabby
-- farm animal
--- chicken

你可能最终想要这样做，使新的项目不能添加到字典。递归地将所有这些defaultdict转换为普通dict很容易。

def dictify(d):
    for k,v in d.iteritems():
        if isinstance(v,defaultdict):
            d[k] = dictify(v)
    return dict(d)

至于“讨厌的尝试/捕捉障碍”:

d = {}
d.setdefault('key',{}).setdefault('inner key',{})['inner inner key'] = 'value'
print d

收益率

{'key': {'inner key': {'inner inner key': 'value'}}}

你可以使用它从你的平面字典格式转换为结构化格式:

fd = {('new jersey', 'mercer county', 'plumbers'): 3,
 ('new jersey', 'mercer county', 'programmers'): 81,
 ('new jersey', 'middlesex county', 'programmers'): 81,
 ('new jersey', 'middlesex county', 'salesmen'): 62,
 ('new york', 'queens county', 'plumbers'): 9,
 ('new york', 'queens county', 'salesmen'): 36}

for (k1,k2,k3), v in fd.iteritems():
    d.setdefault(k1, {}).setdefault(k2, {})[k3] = v

由于您有一个星型模式设计，您可能希望它的结构更像一个关系表，而不是字典。

import collections

class Jobs( object ):
    def __init__( self, state, county, title, count ):
        self.state= state
        self.count= county
        self.title= title
        self.count= count

facts = [
    Jobs( 'new jersey', 'mercer county', 'plumbers', 3 ),
    ...

def groupBy( facts, name ):
    total= collections.defaultdict( int )
    for f in facts:
        key= getattr( f, name )
        total[key] += f.count

这类事情对于创建一个没有SQL开销的类似数据仓库的设计大有帮助。

你可以在lambdas和defaultdict中使用递归，不需要定义名称:

a = defaultdict((lambda f: f(f))(lambda g: lambda:defaultdict(g(g))))

这里有一个例子:

>>> a['new jersey']['mercer county']['plumbers']=3
>>> a['new jersey']['middlesex county']['programmers']=81
>>> a['new jersey']['mercer county']['programmers']=81
>>> a['new jersey']['middlesex county']['salesmen']=62
>>> a
defaultdict(<function __main__.<lambda>>,
        {'new jersey': defaultdict(<function __main__.<lambda>>,
                     {'mercer county': defaultdict(<function __main__.<lambda>>,
                                  {'plumbers': 3, 'programmers': 81}),
                      'middlesex county': defaultdict(<function __main__.<lambda>>,
                                  {'programmers': 81, 'salesmen': 62})})})

我喜欢把它包装在一个类中，并实现__getitem__和__setitem__，这样它们就实现了一个简单的查询语言:

>>> d['new jersey/mercer county/plumbers'] = 3
>>> d['new jersey/mercer county/programmers'] = 81
>>> d['new jersey/mercer county/programmers']
81
>>> d['new jersey/mercer country']
<view which implicitly adds 'new jersey/mercer county' to queries/mutations>

如果你想要更花哨，你也可以实现如下内容:

>>> d['*/*/programmers']
<view which would contain 'programmers' entries>

但大多数情况下，我认为这样的事情执行起来真的很有趣:D

class JobDb(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.data = []
        self.all = set()
        self.free = []
        self.index1 = {}
        self.index2 = {}
        self.index3 = {}

    def _indices(self,(key1,key2,key3)):
        indices = self.all.copy()
        wild = False
        for index,key in ((self.index1,key1),(self.index2,key2),
                                             (self.index3,key3)):
            if key is not None:
                indices &= index.setdefault(key,set())
            else:
                wild = True
        return indices, wild

    def __getitem__(self,key):
        indices, wild = self._indices(key)
        if wild:
            return dict(self.data[i] for i in indices)
        else:
            values = [self.data[i][-1] for i in indices]
            if values:
                return values[0]

    def __setitem__(self,key,value):
        indices, wild = self._indices(key)
        if indices:
            for i in indices:
                self.data[i] = key,value
        elif wild:
            raise KeyError(k)
        else:
            if self.free:
                index = self.free.pop(0)
                self.data[index] = key,value
            else:
                index = len(self.data)
                self.data.append((key,value))
                self.all.add(index)
            self.index1.setdefault(key[0],set()).add(index)
            self.index2.setdefault(key[1],set()).add(index)
            self.index3.setdefault(key[2],set()).add(index)

    def __delitem__(self,key):
        indices,wild = self._indices(key)
        if not indices:
            raise KeyError
        self.index1[key[0]] -= indices
        self.index2[key[1]] -= indices
        self.index3[key[2]] -= indices
        self.all -= indices
        for i in indices:
            self.data[i] = None
        self.free.extend(indices)

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self.all)

    def __iter__(self):
        for key,value in self.data:
            yield key

例子:

>>> db = JobDb()
>>> db['new jersey', 'mercer county', 'plumbers'] = 3
>>> db['new jersey', 'mercer county', 'programmers'] = 81
>>> db['new jersey', 'middlesex county', 'programmers'] = 81
>>> db['new jersey', 'middlesex county', 'salesmen'] = 62
>>> db['new york', 'queens county', 'plumbers'] = 9
>>> db['new york', 'queens county', 'salesmen'] = 36

>>> db['new york', None, None]
{('new york', 'queens county', 'plumbers'): 9,
 ('new york', 'queens county', 'salesmen'): 36}

>>> db[None, None, 'plumbers']
{('new jersey', 'mercer county', 'plumbers'): 3,
 ('new york', 'queens county', 'plumbers'): 9}

>>> db['new jersey', 'mercer county', None]
{('new jersey', 'mercer county', 'plumbers'): 3,
 ('new jersey', 'mercer county', 'programmers'): 81}

>>> db['new jersey', 'middlesex county', 'programmers']
81

>>>

编辑:现在使用通配符(None)查询时返回字典，否则返回单值。