Python – Dictionary values combination of size K

Sometimes while working with Python dictionaries, we can have a problem in which we need to extract combination of certain key’s value of size K. This is usually when values are in form of strings. This can have application in day-day programming. Let’s discuss a way in which this task can be performed.

Input : test_dict = {‘a’ : ‘a’, ‘b’ : ‘b’, ‘c’ : ‘c’, ‘d’ : ‘d’} 
Output : [‘aaa’, ‘bbb’, ‘ccc’, ‘ddd’]
Input : test_dict = {‘a’ : ‘abcd’, ‘b’ : ”, ‘c’ : ”, ‘d’ : ”} 
Output : [‘aaa’, ‘aab’, ‘aac’, ‘aad’] 

Method : Using recursion + generator function + yield
The combination of above functionalities can be used to solve this problem. In this, we perform the task of combinations all possible using recursion. The generator function is used to dynamically create values and return to calling function using yield.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Dictionary values combination of size K
# Using yield + generator function + recursion

def gen_strs(chr_key, test_dict, K):
    def hlpr(s):
        if len(s) == K:
            yield s
        elif len(s) < K:
            for ltr in test_dict[s[-1]]:
                yield from hlpr(s + ltr)
    for ltr in chr_key:
        yield from hlpr(ltr)

# initializing dictionary
test_dict = {'a' : 'abc', 'b' : 'bd', 'c' : 'c', 'd' : 'ab'}

# printing original dictionary
print("The original dictionary : " + str(test_dict))

# initializing K
K = 3

# initializing character keys
chr_key = 'abcd'

# Dictionary values combination of size K
# Using yield + generator function + recursion
res = []
for ele in gen_strs(chr_key, test_dict, K):
    res.append(ele)

# printing result
print("The extracted combinations : " + str(res))

Output : 

The original dictionary : {‘b’: ‘bd’, ‘a’: ‘abc’, ‘d’: ‘ab’, ‘c’: ‘c’} 
The extracted combinations : [‘aaa’, ‘aab’, ‘aac’, ‘abb’, ‘abd’, ‘acc’, ‘bbb’, ‘bbd’, ‘bda’, ‘bdb’, ‘ccc’, ‘daa’, ‘dab’, ‘dac’, ‘dbb’, ‘dbd’]