The clear() method removes all items from the dictionary.
Syntax:
dict.clear()
Parameters:
The clear() method doesn't take any parameters.
Returns:
The clear() method doesn't return any value.
Examples:
Input : d = {1: "geeks", 2: "for"} d.clear() Output : d = {}
Error:
As we are not passing any parameters there is no chance for any error.
# Python program to demonstrate working of # dictionary clear() text = { 1 : "geeks" , 2 : "for" } text.clear() print ( 'text =' , text) |
Output:
text = {}
How is it different from assigning {} to a dictionary?
Please refer the below code to see the difference. When we assign {} to a dictionary, a new empty dictionary is created and assigned to the reference. But when we do clear on a dictionary reference, the actual dictionary content is removed, so all references referring to the dictionary become empty.
# Python code to demonstrate difference # clear and {}. text1 = { 1 : "geeks" , 2 : "for" } text2 = text1 # Using clear makes both text1 and text2 # empty. text1.clear() print ( 'After removing items using clear()' ) print ( 'text1 =' , text1) print ( 'text2 =' , text2) text1 = { 1 : "one" , 2 : "two" } text2 = text1 # This makes only text1 empty. text1 = {} print ( 'After removing items by assigning {}' ) print ( 'text1 =' , text1) print ( 'text2 =' , text2) |
Output:
After removing items using clear() text1 = {} text2 = {} After removing items by assigning {} text1 = {} text2 = {1: 'one', 2: 'two'}
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