[Tutor] Question about dictionary method get()

Dick Moores rdmoores at gmail.com
Mon Jun 28 07:25:08 EDT 2004


This is probably trivial, but it makes me suspect that there's
something I don't understand about "None".

In _Python in a Nutshell_, on p. 50, I find, under "Dictionary Methods":

D.get(k[,x])    --    Returns D[k] if k is a key in D, otherwise
returns x (or None, if x is not given)

But in my simple

D = {'a': 'first letter', 'b': 'second letter', 'c': 'third letter',
'z': 'last letter'}

D.get("v")  returns nothing, not "None".   (with version 2.3.4)


The .chm file I have of the Python documentation for 2.3, it says

a.get(k[, x])     --     a[k] if k in a, else x 

Does this imply that that my D.get("v")  will return nothing, not
"None", and that there might be an error in the wonderful _Python in a
Nutshell_? Or am I just confused about something here? Or is this a
version difference?

Uh, oh. I just now tried      print D.get("v")     and did get "None".
  Then why not with the plain    D.get("v")  ?  Maybe I've found the
source of my confusion?

Thanks again,

Dick Moores



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