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Dictionary Methods

pop()

Remove and return the value for a specified key.

dict.pop(key, default=None)

dict.pop() removes the specified key from the dictionary and returns its corresponding value.

If the key is missing and a default is given, that default is returned. If no default is provided, a KeyError is raised.

Parameters

NameDescription
keyThe key to remove.
defaultOptional fallback value returned if the key is not in the dictionary.

Returns

The removed value, or the default value if the key was missing.

Try it

Run it and change it
config = {"port": 8080, "debug": True, "temp_key": "abc"}
removed = config.pop("temp_key")
missing = config.pop("timeout", 30)
print("Removed:", removed)
print("Missing fallback:", missing)
print("Remaining:", list(config.keys()))

Worth knowing

  • Safe deletion: Using dict.pop(key, None) is a common idiom to delete a key without having to check with if key in dict: first.

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