How to Convert Dictionary to List in Python

Python dictionary is a built-in data type that can save data differently from lists or arrays. It stores the data in the key-value pairs.

Dictionaries are not sequences, so they can’t be indexed by the range of numbers; rather, they are indexed by the series of keys.

Python dictionary to list

To convert a dictionary to a list in Python, use either dict.keys() or dict.values() or dict.items() method.

1. dict.keys(): The keys() method returns a view object that contains the keys of the dictionary as a list.
2. dict.values(): The values() method returns a view object that contains the dictionary’s values as a list.
3. dict.items(): The items() method returns a view object that displays a list of dictionary’s (key, value) tuple pairs.

Python dict.keys()

Let’s define a dictionary and apply the keys() method to get the list of all the dictionary keys.

sabrina = {
    "witch": "Sabrina Spellman",
    "warlock": "Nicholas Scratch",
    "darklord": "Lucifer Morningstar",
}

dict_keys = sabrina.keys()
print(dict_keys)
print(type(dict_keys))

Output

dict_keys(['witch', 'warlock', 'darklord'])
<class 'dict_keys'>

The view object will reflect any changes done to the dictionary.

Python dict.values()

The dict.values() is a built-in function that returns a view object that displays a list of all the values in the dictionary.

sabrina = {
    "witch": "Sabrina Spellman",
    "warlock": "Nicholas Scratch",
    "darklord": "Lucifer Morningstar",
}

dict_values = sabrina.values()
print(dict_values)
print(type(dict_values))

Output

dict_values(['Sabrina Spellman', 'Nicholas Scratch', 'Lucifer Morningstar'])
<class 'dict_values'>

The values() function also returns a view object that displays the list of all the values.

Python dict.items()

Python dict.items() is a built-in method that returns a view object that displays a list of dictionary’s (key, value) tuple pairs. The items() method is similar to the viewitems() method in Python 2.7.

sabrina = {
    "witch": "Sabrina Spellman",
    "warlock": "Nicholas Scratch",
    "darklord": "Lucifer Morningstar",
}

data = sabrina.items()
print(data)
print(type(data))

Output

dict_items([('witch', 'Sabrina Spellman'), ('warlock', 'Nicholas Scratch'), ('darklord', 'Lucifer Morningstar')])
<class 'dict_items'>

That’s it. The output of the code above should be the key data values: value pairs from a dictionary.

See also

Python dict to json

Python dictionary to array