How to Create a Python Dictionary from Text File?

Creating a Python dictionary from a text file involves reading the file content and structuring it into key-value pairs. Various methods such as open(), csv.reader, yaml, or other parsing techniques can be used to extract and organize the data from the text file into a dictionary format in Python. In this article, we will see how we can create a Python Dictionary from a text file in Python.

Create a Python Dictionary from a Text File in Python

Below are the ways to create a Python Dictionary From a Text File.

• Using open() and readlines() Functions
• Using csv.reader
• Using yaml module

input.txt

Python: Programming Language
Algorithms: Problem Solving
Data Structures: Collections
Web Development: Django, Flask

Create a Python Dictionary From Text File Using open() and readlines() Functions

In the below example, we read the text file “input.txt” using the open() and readlines() functions, extract the key-value pairs that are separated by colons, and create a dictionary named “res“. We are printing this created dictionary as output.

Python3

file = 'input.txt'

# open the file in read mode
with open(file, 'r') as file:
    # read lines from the file
    lines = file.readlines()

# initialize an empty dictionary
res = {}

# iterate through each line and split key-value pairs
for line in lines:
    key, value = line.strip().split(':')
    res[key.strip()] = value.strip()

# print the dictionary
print("Dictionary Created:")
print(res)

Output:

Dictionary Created
{'Python': 'Programming Language', 'Algorithms': 'Problem Solving', 'Data Structures': 'Collections',
'Web Development': 'Django, Flask'}

Create a Python Dictionary From Text File Using csv.reader

In the below example, we use csv.reader module to read a text file named ‘input.txt’, where each line contains key-value pairs separated by colons. The code then creates a dictionary named ‘res‘ by iterating through the rows of the CSV data, stripping whitespace from keys and values, and finally prints the resulting dictionary.

Python3

import csv

file = 'input.txt'

# open the file in read mode
with open(file, 'r') as file:
    # create a csv reader
    reader = csv.reader(file, delimiter=':')
    # convert csv data to dictionary
    res = {row[0].strip(): row[1].strip() for row in reader}

# print the dictionary
print("Dictionary Created")
print(res)

Output:

Dictionary Created
{'Python': 'Programming Language', 'Algorithms': 'Problem Solving', 'Data Structures': 'Collections',
'Web Development': 'Django, Flask'}

Create a Python Dictionary From Text File Using yaml module

In the below example, we use the yaml module to read a text file named ‘input.txt‘ in read mode. It then uses yaml.safe_load() to load the data from the YAML-formatted file, creating a dictionary named ‘res‘. The resulting dictionary is printed.

Python3

import yaml

file = 'input.txt'

# open the file in read mode
with open(file, 'r') as file:
    # load data from yaml
    res = yaml.safe_load(file)

# print the dictionary
print("Dictionary Created")
print(res)

Output:

Dictionary Created
{'Python': 'Programming Language', 'Algorithms': 'Problem Solving', 'Data Structures': 'Collections', 
'Web Development': 'Django, Flask'}