Question

If I am given some data in the following format:

data = [
    ['Airbus', 'R&D', '01', 5],
    ['Airbus', 'R&D', '02', 8],
    ['Airbus', 'Marketing', '01', 9],
    ['Airbus', 'Marketing', '02', 54],
    ['Netgear', 'R&D', '01', 12],
    ['Netgear', 'R&D', '02', 5],
    ['Netgear', 'Marketing', '01', 6],
    ['Netgear', 'Marketing', '02', 11],
    ['Toyota', 'R&D', '01', 9],
    ['Toyota', 'R&D', '02', 52],
    ['Toyota', 'Marketing', '01', 43],
    ['Toyota', 'Marketing', '02', 34],
]

how can I use python to get a more hierarchical structure, ie:

data = {

'Airbus': {
    'R&D': {
        '01': 5, '02': 8
    },
    'Marketing': {
        '01': 9,'02': 54
    }
},
'Netgear'
    etc...
}

?

Answer 1

The code below is a bit more flexible with regard to length, but there’s no checking for a minimum length record (minimum is 2 elements (key, value).

def nest(data):
    result = {}
    for record in data:
        assert len(record) > 2
        d = result
        for key in record[:-2]:
            d = d.setdefault(key, {})

        key,value = record[-2:]
        d[key] = value
    return result