Python | Find depth of a dictionary

Last Updated : 27 Nov, 2018

The task is to find the depth of given dictionary in Python. Let’s discuss all different methods to do this task.

Examples:

Input : {1:'a', 2: {3: {4: {}}}}
Output : 4

Input : {'a':1, 'b': {'c':'geek'}}
Output : 3

Approach #1 : Naive Alpproach

A naive approach in order to find the depth of a dictionary is to count the number of opening curly braces. But, one drawback of this approach is that it would only work if the input is correct.

# Python3 Program to find depth of a dictionary 
def dict_depth(dic, level = 1): 
       
    str_dic = str(dic) 
    counter = 0
    for i in str_dic: 
        if i == "{": 
            counter += 1
    return(counter) 
   
# Driver code  
dic = {1:'Geek', 2: {3: {4: {}}}} 
print(dict_depth(dic)) 

Output:

Approach #2: Using recursion

In this method we use recursion with max() function which picks the greatest depth for the current dictionary under scrutiny at each level.

# Python3 Program to find depth of a dictionary 
def dict_depth(dic, level = 1): 
      
    if not isinstance(dic, dict) or not dic: 
        return level 
    return max(dict_depth(dic[key], level + 1) 
                               for key in dic) 
  
# Driver code  
dic = {1:'a', 2: {3: {4: {}}}} 
  
print(dict_depth(dic)) 

Output:

Another version of the recursive solution is to use map() function by which the values of the inner dictionary is mapped to the called function.

# Python3 Program to find depth of a dictionary 
def dict_depth(my_dict): 
    if isinstance(my_dict, dict): 
          
        return 1 + (max(map(dict_depth, my_dict.values())) 
                                    if my_dict else 0) 
          
    return 0
  
# Driver code  
my_dict = {1:'a', 2: {3: {4: {}}}} 
print(dict_depth(my_dict)) 

Output:

Approach #3: Iterative Solution

In this approach, we save the nested key and its initial depth in a variable, say p_dict. Now, start a loop for p_dict, and keep popping values while digging deeper for nested dictionaries.

# Python3 Program to find depth of a dictionary 
def dict_depth(myDict): 
  
    Ddepth = 1
    obj = [(k, Ddepth + 1) for k in myDict.values() 
                          if isinstance(k, dict)] 
    max_depth = 0
      
    while(obj): 
        n, Ddepth = obj.pop() 
        max_depth = max(max_depth, Ddepth) 
          
        obj = obj + [(k, Ddepth + 1) for k in n.values() 
                                 if isinstance(k, dict)] 
          
    return max_depth 
      
# Driver code  
myDict = {1:'a', 2: {3: {4:{}}}} 
print(dict_depth(myDict)) 

Output:

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