Safely finding by key

As demonstrated in the video, if you attempt to access a key that isn't present in a dictionary, you'll get a KeyError. One option to handle this type of error is to use a try: except: block. You can learn more about error handling in Python Data Science Toolbox (Part 1).

Python provides a faster, more versatile tool to help with this problem in the form of the .get() method. The .get() method allows you to supply the name of a key, and optionally, what you'd like to have returned if the key is not found.

You'll be using same squirrels_by_park dictionary, which is keyed by the park name and the value is a tuple with the main color, highlights, action, and reaction to humans, and will gain practice using the .get() method.

This exercise is part of the course

Data Types in Python

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Exercise instructions

Safely print 'Union Square Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary .
Safely print the type of 'Fort Tryon Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary.
Safely print 'Central Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary or 'Not Found'.

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

# Safely print 'Union Square Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary
print(____.____(____))

# Safely print the type of 'Fort Tryon Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary
print(____(squirrels_by_park.____('Fort Tryon Park')))

# Safely print 'Central Park' from the squirrels_by_park dictionary or 'Not Found'
print(____.get(____, ____))

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