What is Python's dict methods?
Why Interviewers Ask This
Foundational questions like this help interviewers calibrate the rest of the interview. A confident, accurate answer signals that you have solid Python basics — a prerequisite for any developer role.
Answer
Python dictionaries have rich methods. Access: d["key"] (KeyError if missing), d.get("key", default) (safe, returns default). Modify: d["key"] = value, d.update({"k": "v"}) (merge/update), d.setdefault("key", value) (set only if key absent). Delete: del d["key"], d.pop("key", default) (remove and return), d.popitem() (remove and return last item), d.clear(). Views: d.keys(), d.values(), d.items() — all return dynamic view objects that reflect dict changes. Copy: d.copy() (shallow). Python 3.9+ dict merge: d1 | d2, update: d1 |= d2. collections.defaultdict auto-creates missing keys. collections.Counter is a dict subclass for counting. collections.OrderedDict preserves insertion order (redundant in Python 3.7+).
Common Mistake
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