Switching keys of a dictionary without switching the values

Question

Let’s say I have a dictionary like below

myDict = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3, "d": 4}

and I’m trying to get this result

myDict = {"b": 1, "a": 2, "c": 3, "d": 4}

I tried running using

dictionary[new_key] = dictionary.pop(old_key)

But thats just deleting and appending a new key and value to the dictionary. It would result in:

myDict = {"b": 2, "c": 3, "d": 4, "a": 2}

Thanks in advance for the answer

Asked By: Maple06

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Answer 1

So I understand you aim to preserve the sequence.
Make first a new dictionary that maps the old keys to the new keys:

mapping = {"a": "b", "b": "a"}

Now you can generate the new structure

my_dict = {mapping.get(key, key): value for key, value in my_dict.items()}

The get method here tries to map the key, but uses the key itself, if the key is not in the mapping.

Answered By: Dr. V

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