Question

I’d like to work with a dict in python, but limit the number of key/value pairs to X. In other words, if the dict is currently storing X key/value pairs and I perform an insertion, I would like one of the existing pairs to be dropped. It would be nice if it was the least recently inserted/accesses key but that’s not completely necessary.

If this exists in the standard library please save me some time and point it out!

Answer 1

Python 2.7 and 3.1 have OrderedDict and there are pure-Python implementations for earlier Pythons.

from collections import OrderedDict

class LimitedSizeDict(OrderedDict):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):
        self.size_limit = kwds.pop("size_limit", None)
        OrderedDict.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)
        self._check_size_limit()

    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
        OrderedDict.__setitem__(self, key, value)
        self._check_size_limit()

    def _check_size_limit(self):
        if self.size_limit is not None:
            while len(self) > self.size_limit:
                self.popitem(last=False)

You would also have to override other methods that can insert items, such as update. The primary use of OrderedDict is so you can control what gets popped easily, otherwise a normal dict would work.