---
author: Jan Brennenstuhl
canonical_url: https://www.janbrennenstuhl.eu/python-tuples-to-dict/
description: 'Python Docopt: How to convert a list of tuples into a dictionary in Python. A quick and easy solution for beautiful command-line interfaces …'
id: jb-python-tuple-list-to-dict
kind: essay
license:
  name: CC BY 4.0
  scope: Original text; credited third-party media retain their own rights.
  url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
markdown_url: https://www.janbrennenstuhl.eu/python-tuples-to-dict/index.md
modified: '2023-04-15T00:00:00+02:00'
published: '2015-04-28T00:00:00+02:00'
review_basis: publication
review_status: reviewed
reviewed: '2015-04-28'
series: ''
status: published
title: 'Python Docopt: Convert Tuple List to Dictionary'
topics:
- engineering-practice
---

# Python Docopt: Convert Tuple List to Dictionary

Python Docopt: How to convert a list of tuples into a dictionary in Python. A quick and easy solution for beautiful command-line interfaces …


Using [Python Docopt](https://github.com/docopt/docopt) (for beautiful command-line interfaces) I recently had the problem of converting a list of tuples into a dictionary. In this post I'd like to document [the solution](https://gist.github.com/jbspeakr/c7c4fcb9ee143cf7e9eb)…

```python
"""
usage:
    mytool [options]

options:
    --foo-bar=PARAM1,PARAM2,... params to do stuff with
        [default: key1.value1,key1.value2,key2.value2]
"""

from docopt import docopt
from collections import defaultdict


def run():
    params = [tuple(param.strip().split('.')) for param in arguments["--foo-bar"].split(",")]
    params = convert_tuple_list_to_dictionary(ignored_resources)

def convert_tuple_list_to_dictionary(list_of_tuple):
    dictionary = defaultdict(list)
    for k, v in list_of_tuple:
        dictionary[k].append(v)

    return dictionary

if __name__ == "__main__":
    run()
```

This code is able to convert the parameter value string `key1.value1,key1.value2,key2.value2` into the following dictionary:

```bash
{
	'key1': ['value1', 'value2'],
    'key2': ['value2']
}
```

If you know a leaner solution to solve this problem, let me know!

---

Cite as: Jan Brennenstuhl. "Python Docopt: Convert Tuple List to Dictionary." Brennenstuhl on Security, 28 April 2015. https://www.janbrennenstuhl.eu/python-tuples-to-dict/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) for the original text; credited third-party media keep their own rights.