How to Remove An Item from a Dictionary in Python – Definitive Guide

Python dictionary allows you to store values as a key-value pair.

You can remove an item from a dictionary using the del yourdict[“key”] statement in Python.

Basic Example

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}

del yourdict["one"]

yourdict

• If the key exists, it’ll delete it. Otherwise, it’ll throw a keyError.

Output

    {'two': 2, 'three': 3, 'four': 4}

This tutorial teaches you the different methods to remove an item from a dictionary in Python.

Using Del Statement

The del statement removes an item from the dictionary using the key.

• If the key is available, then the item will be deleted
• If the key is NOT available, a KeyError will be thrown

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}


del yourdict["one"]

yourdict

Output

The item with key one is removed from the dictionary.

    {'two': 2, 'three': 3, 'four': 4}

The following code snippet demonstrates the KeyError when you attempt to delete an item that is not available in the dictionary.

To avoid this error while using the del statement, you need to check if a key exists in a dictionary before attempting to delete it.

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}


del yourdict["onee"]

yourdict

Output

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    KeyError
    /var/folders/gb/19ly8vfs7t53plwx43wx1q3m0000gn/T/ipykernel_45472/1409174214.py in <module>
    ----> 9 del yourdict["onee"]
         11 yourdict

    KeyError: 'onee'

This is the usage and caveats of the del statement while using it to delete an element from the dictionary.

Using Pop

The pop method removes the item from the dictionary and returns the value of the removed item.

You can use this method when you want to use the value of the deleted item.

Parameters

• Key – Key of the item to be deleted
• Optional value – Optional – A value that needs to be returned when the key is unavailable instead of throwing a key error. If this parameter is not passed, KeyError will be thrown when the key is unavailable.

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}


yourdict.pop("one")

Output

The item with key one is deleted, and the value of the item 1 is returned.

    1

The code below demonstrates how to use the optional parameter to return a default value instead of throwing a keyerror when the key is unavailable in the dictionary.

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}


yourdict.pop("onee", "Key not found to delete")

Output

The key onee is not available in the dictionary. Hence the optional value is returned instead of throwing a KeyError.

    'Key not found to delete’

Using PopItem

The popitem() method removes the last item from the dictionary.

Use this method when you know the key of the item that needs to be removed.

In Python versions before 3.7, a random item is removed instead of removing the last item.

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}


yourdict.popitem()

Output

The last item is removed from the dictionary, and both the keys and values are returned.

    ('four', 4)

Remove Multiple Keys From Dictionary

There is no method directly available to delete multiple keys from a dictionary.

To remove multiple keys,

• Add the multiple keys to a tuple, a list, or a set and iterate over it.
• During each iteration, invoke the pop() method to remove the item with that key .

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}

keys_to_remove = ('one', 'two')

for key in keys_to_remove:
    print(yourdict.pop(key, None))

Output

    1
    2

Delete All Elements from Dictionary

To delete all elements from a dictionary in Python,

• use the clear() method.

It removes all items from the dictionary, but the dictionary object itself is not removed.

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}

yourdict.clear()

yourdict

Output

All the elements from the dictionary are removed, and an empty dictionary object is still available.

    {}

Delete Dictionary Key While Iterating

To delete dictionary keys while iterating, you need to iterate the dictionary keys after converting them into a list using list(yourdict.keys()).

If you iterate directly with dict.keys(), you’ll face a Runtime error. RuntimeError: dictionary changed size during iteration. This is because when you remove a key, the size of the dictionary will be changed, and the iteration cannot happen.

Code

yourdict = {
    "one": 1,
    "two": 2,
    "three": 3,
    "four": 4,
}

for k in list(yourdict.keys()):
    if k == "one":
        del yourdict[k]

yourdict

Output

The key one is removed from the dictionary while iterating over it.

    {'two': 2, 'three': 3, 'four': 4}

Pop Vs Del

Pop	Del
Returns the value of the deleted key	Returns nothing after deleting the key
Supports an additional parameter that can be used to return a value when the key is unavailable in the dictionary.	Doesn’t support an additional parameter to pass a return a value when the key is unavailable
Returns KeyError when the key is unavailable	Returns KeyError when the key is unavailable

Additional Resources

• How to Add Keys to Dictionary
• How to Return Dictionary Keys as a List in Python
• How To Get Values As A List From Dictionary In Python
• how to delete a key while iterating it.