Inverse dictionary lookup in Python

Question

Is there any straightforward way of finding a key by knowing the value within a dictionary?

All I can think of is this:

key = [key for key, value in dict_obj.items() if value == 'value'][0]

Answer 1

Maybe a dictionary-like class such as DoubleDict down below is what you want? You can use any one of the provided metaclasses in conjuction with DoubleDict or may avoid using any metaclass at all.

import functools
import threading

################################################################################

class _DDChecker(type):

    def __new__(cls, name, bases, classdict):
        for key, value in classdict.items():
            if key not in {'__new__', '__slots__', '_DoubleDict__dict_view'}:
                classdict[key] = cls._wrap(value)
        return super().__new__(cls, name, bases, classdict)

    @staticmethod
    def _wrap(function):
        @functools.wraps(function)
        def check(self, *args, **kwargs):
            value = function(self, *args, **kwargs)
            if self._DoubleDict__forward != \
               dict(map(reversed, self._DoubleDict__reverse.items())):
                raise RuntimeError('Forward & Reverse are not equivalent!')
            return value
        return check

################################################################################

class _DDAtomic(_DDChecker):

    def __new__(cls, name, bases, classdict):
        if not bases:
            classdict['__slots__'] += ('_DDAtomic__mutex',)
            classdict['__new__'] = cls._atomic_new
        return super().__new__(cls, name, bases, classdict)

    @staticmethod
    def _atomic_new(cls, iterable=(), **pairs):
        instance = object.__new__(cls, iterable, **pairs)
        instance.__mutex = threading.RLock()
        instance.clear()
        return instance

    @staticmethod
    def _wrap(function):
        @functools.wraps(function)
        def atomic(self, *args, **kwargs):
            with self.__mutex:
                return function(self, *args, **kwargs)
        return atomic

################################################################################

class _DDAtomicChecker(_DDAtomic):

    @staticmethod
    def _wrap(function):
        return _DDAtomic._wrap(_DDChecker._wrap(function))

################################################################################

class DoubleDict(metaclass=_DDAtomicChecker):

    __slots__ = '__forward', '__reverse'

    def __new__(cls, iterable=(), **pairs):
        instance = super().__new__(cls, iterable, **pairs)
        instance.clear()
        return instance

    def __init__(self, iterable=(), **pairs):
        self.update(iterable, **pairs)

    ########################################################################

    def __repr__(self):
        return repr(self.__forward)

    def __lt__(self, other):
        return self.__forward < other

    def __le__(self, other):
        return self.__forward <= other

    def __eq__(self, other):
        return self.__forward == other

    def __ne__(self, other):
        return self.__forward != other

    def __gt__(self, other):
        return self.__forward > other

    def __ge__(self, other):
        return self.__forward >= other

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self.__forward)

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        if key in self:
            return self.__forward[key]
        return self.__missing_key(key)

    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
        if self.in_values(value):
            del self[self.get_key(value)]
        self.__set_key_value(key, value)
        return value

    def __delitem__(self, key):
        self.pop(key)

    def __iter__(self):
        return iter(self.__forward)

    def __contains__(self, key):
        return key in self.__forward

    ########################################################################

    def clear(self):
        self.__forward = {}
        self.__reverse = {}

    def copy(self):
        return self.__class__(self.items())

    def del_value(self, value):
        self.pop_key(value)

    def get(self, key, default=None):
        return self[key] if key in self else default

    def get_key(self, value):
        if self.in_values(value):
            return self.__reverse[value]
        return self.__missing_value(value)

    def get_key_default(self, value, default=None):
        return self.get_key(value) if self.in_values(value) else default

    def in_values(self, value):
        return value in self.__reverse

    def items(self):
        return self.__dict_view('items', ((key, self[key]) for key in self))

    def iter_values(self):
        return iter(self.__reverse)

    def keys(self):
        return self.__dict_view('keys', self.__forward)

    def pop(self, key, *default):
        if len(default) > 1:
            raise TypeError('too many arguments')
        if key in self:
            value = self[key]
            self.__del_key_value(key, value)
            return value
        if default:
            return default[0]
        raise KeyError(key)

    def pop_key(self, value, *default):
        if len(default) > 1:
            raise TypeError('too many arguments')
        if self.in_values(value):
            key = self.get_key(value)
            self.__del_key_value(key, value)
            return key
        if default:
            return default[0]
        raise KeyError(value)

    def popitem(self):
        try:
            key = next(iter(self))
        except StopIteration:
            raise KeyError('popitem(): dictionary is empty')
        return key, self.pop(key)

    def set_key(self, value, key):
        if key in self:
            self.del_value(self[key])
        self.__set_key_value(key, value)
        return key

    def setdefault(self, key, default=None):
        if key not in self:
            self[key] = default
        return self[key]

    def setdefault_key(self, value, default=None):
        if not self.in_values(value):
            self.set_key(value, default)
        return self.get_key(value)

    def update(self, iterable=(), **pairs):
        for key, value in (((key, iterable[key]) for key in iterable.keys())
                           if hasattr(iterable, 'keys') else iterable):
            self[key] = value
        for key, value in pairs.items():
            self[key] = value

    def values(self):
        return self.__dict_view('values', self.__reverse)

    ########################################################################

    def __missing_key(self, key):
        if hasattr(self.__class__, '__missing__'):
            return self.__missing__(key)
        if not hasattr(self, 'default_factory') \
           or self.default_factory is None:
            raise KeyError(key)
        return self.__setitem__(key, self.default_factory())

    def __missing_value(self, value):
        if hasattr(self.__class__, '__missing_value__'):
            return self.__missing_value__(value)
        if not hasattr(self, 'default_key_factory') \
           or self.default_key_factory is None:
            raise KeyError(value)
        return self.set_key(value, self.default_key_factory())

    def __set_key_value(self, key, value):
        self.__forward[key] = value
        self.__reverse[value] = key

    def __del_key_value(self, key, value):
        del self.__forward[key]
        del self.__reverse[value]

    ########################################################################

    class __dict_view(frozenset):

        __slots__ = '__name'

        def __new__(cls, name, iterable=()):
            instance = super().__new__(cls, iterable)
            instance.__name = name
            return instance

        def __repr__(self):
            return 'dict_{}({})'.format(self.__name, list(self))

Answer 2

key in dict.values()

This is literally it