What is the meaning of curly braces?

Question

Just starting to figure Python out. I've read this question and its responses:

Is it true that I can't use curly braces in Python?

and I still can't fathom how curly braces work, especially since pages like Simple Programs:

http://wiki.python.org/moin/SimplePrograms

use curly braces all over the place. I understand square brackets and regular curved parentheses, but I don't know what's meant by "defining dictionaries" or what they're supposed to represent.

Solution 1

"Curly Braces" are used in Python to define a dictionary. A dictionary is a data structure that maps one value to another - kind of like how an English dictionary maps a word to its definition.

Python:

dict = {
    "a" : "Apple",
    "b" : "Banana",
}

They are also used to format strings, instead of the old C style using %, like:

ds = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
x = ['has_{} 1'.format(d) for d in ds]

print x

['has_a 1', 'has_b 1', 'has_c 1', 'has_d 1']

They are not used to denote code blocks as they are in many "C-like" languages.

C:

if (condition) {
    // do this
}

Update: In addition to Python's dict data types Python has (since Python 2.7) set as well, which uses curly braces too and are declared as follows:

my_set = {1, 2, 3, 4}

Solution 2

In Python, curly braces are used to define a dictionary.

a={'one':1, 'two':2, 'three':3}
a['one']=1
a['three']=3

In other languages, { } are used as part of the flow control. Python however used indentation as its flow control because of its focus on readable code.

for entry in entries:
     code....

There's a little easter egg in Python when it comes to braces. Try running this on the Python Shell and enjoy.

from __future__ import braces

Solution 3

In languages like C curly braces ({}) are used to create program blocks used in flow control. In Python, curly braces are used to define a data structure called a dictionary (a key/value mapping), while white space indentation is used to define program blocks.

Solution 4

Dictionaries in Python are data structures that store key-value pairs. You can use them like associative arrays. Curly braces are used when declaring dictionaries:

d = {'One': 1, 'Two' : 2, 'Three' : 3 }
print d['Two'] # prints "2"

Curly braces are not used to denote control levels in Python. Instead, Python uses indentation for this purpose.

I think you really need some good resources for learning Python in general. See https://stackoverflow.com/q/175001/10077

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