How to Get Dictionary Intersection in Python

1. Python Dictionary
2. Use Dictionary Comprehension to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python
3. Use the Bitwise & Operator to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python
4. Use the Set intersection() Method to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python
5. Methods Used in Intersecting Multiple Dictionaries in Python
6. Conclusion

This article will discuss the different methods to perform intersection on two or multiple dictionaries in Python.

Python Dictionary

The data is kept in a key-value pair format using a Python dictionary, and it is a mutable data structure. Python’s dictionary data type can mimic real-world data arrangements where a certain value exists for a given key.

Keys and values are the elements used to define the dictionary:

• Keys should be a single element.
• Value can be any type, such as a list, integer, tuple, etc.

A dictionary is, in other words, a group of key-value pairs where the value can be any Python object. The keys, in contrast, are immutable Python objects, such as strings, tuples, or numbers.

Multiple key-value pairs can be used to build a dictionary, with a colon separating each key from its value before each pair is contained in curly brackets.

The syntax is as follows:

dict = {"Name": "John", "Age": 18, "Grade": "13"}

Let’s look at an example:

Use Dictionary Comprehension to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python

We can use different approaches to perform the intersection of dictionaries via their keys in Python.

Example:

# inititializing the dictionaries
dict01 = {"A": 1, "B": 6, "C": 3, "D": 5}
dict02 = {"A": 1, "C": 4, "D": 5, "E": 2}

# printing original dictionary
print("First original dictionary: ", dict01)
print("Second original dictionary: ", dict02)

# performing intersection
intersection = {k1: dict01[k1] for k1 in dict01 if k1 in dict02}

# printing output
print("Intersected Dictionary: ", str(intersection))

You will receive the output listed below if you run the above code.

Consider the key of dict02 as k2. Execute the for loop to check whether k2 in dict02 also exists in dict01 by following the same code.

Additionally, if the values are of the string type:

# inititializing the dictionaries
dict01 = {1: "My", 2: "I", 3: "age"}
dict02 = {1: "name", 2: "live", 4: "year"}

# defining a function to merge strings


def mergeStrings(str01, str02):
    return str01 + " " + str02


# performing intersection
intersectString = {
    k1: mergeStrings(dict01[k1], dict02[k1]) for k1 in dict01.keys() if k1 in dict02
}

# printing output
print(intersectString)

Let us look into the outcome of the above code:

Use the Bitwise & Operator to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python

It simply filters the common keys and the key’s corresponding value from the dictionaries. It only filters keys with the same value, and this approach is much simpler to understand and apply.

Example:

# inititializing dictionary
dict01 = {"A": 1, "B": 6, "C": 3, "D": 5}
dict02 = {"A": 1, "C": 4, "D": 5, "E": 2}

# printing original dictionary
print("First original dictionary: ", dict01)
print("Second original dictionary: ", dict02)

# performing intersection
intersection = dict(dict01.items() & dict02.items())

# printing output
print("Intersected Dictionary", str(intersection))

You will receive the following outcome if you run the above code.

When performing the Bitwise & operator for Python dictionary intersection, both the keys and values of the respective keys should also be equal.

Use the Set intersection() Method to Intersect Two Dictionaries in Python

The set intersection() method returns a set that is made up of the elements that are present in both sets m and n as follows:

m = {"A": 1, "B": 6, "C": 3, "D": 5}
n = {"A": 1, "D": 5, "E": 2}

setM = set(m)
setN = set(n)

setM.intersection(setN)

for item in setM.intersection(setN):
    print(item)

If you run the above example code, you will get the results below.

Methods Used in Intersecting Multiple Dictionaries in Python

We can use both the bitwise & operator and the Set intersection() method to easily find the elements that intersect in multiple dictionaries with further coding.

Using Bitwise & Operator:

# inititializing dictionary
dict01 = {"A": 1, "B": 6, "C": 3, "D": 5}
dict02 = {"A": 1, "C": 4, "D": 5, "E": 2}
dict03 = {"A": 1, "C": 9, "D": 5, "E": 1}

# printing original dictionary
print("First original dictionary: ", dict01)
print("Second original dictionary: ", dict02)
print("Third original dictionary: ", dict03)

# performing intersection
intersection = dict(dict01.items() & dict02.items() & dict03.items())

# printing output
print("Intersected Dictionary", str(intersection))

Let us look into the result after executing the above code:

Using Set intersection() method:

m = {"A": 1, "B": 6, "D": 5, "E": 2}
n = {"A": 1, "D": 5, "E": 2}
t = {"A": 1, "C": 4, "D": 5, "E": 2}

setM = set(m)
setN = set(n)
setT = set(t)

setM.intersection(setN).intersection(setT)

for item in setM.intersection(setN).intersection(setT):
    print(item)

Let’s have a look at the result after executing the above code:

Conclusion

To wrap up, we considered quick and efficient ways to perform intersection on two or multiple dictionaries in Python to create a new one. You can select any approach you need based on your preference and use case.

We found the intersection of two or more dictionaries, all at the level of only keys and key-value pairs, sometimes using different functions for the keys in common. These methods are certainly not the only ones; you can think of more, and perhaps more explicit methods for these tasks will be added in later versions of Python.

Though almost all of the proposed bits of code are one-liners, they are all clear and elegant.