Diff multidimensional dictionaries in python

Question

I have two dictionaries

a = {'home': {'name': 'Team1', 'score': 0}, 'away': {'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}
b = {'home': {'name': 'Team1', 'score': 2}, 'away': {'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}

The keys never change but I want to get that ['home']['score'] has changed

Any easy way to do this?

Answer 1

As a knee-jerk initial response:

a = {'home': {'name': 'Team1', 'score': 0}, 'away': {'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}
b = {'home': {'name': 'Team1', 'score': 2}, 'away': {'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}

def valchange(d1, d2, parent=''):
    changes=[]
    for k in d1.keys():
        if type(d1[k])==type({}):
            changes.extend(valchange(d1[k], d2[k], k))
        else:
            if d1[k]!=d2[k]:
                if parent=='':
                    changes.append(k + ' has changed ')
                else:
                    changes.append(parent + '.' + k + ' has changed')
    return changes

print valchange(a,b)

>>>
['home.score has changed']    

Answer 2

You can use my package that is for python: https://github.com/seperman/deepdiff

It deals with more than just recursive dictionary differences:

Installation

Install from PyPi:

pip install deepdiff

If you are Python3 you need to also install:

pip install future six

Example usage

>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> from pprint import pprint
>>> from __future__ import print_function

Same object returns empty

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = t1
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {}

Type of an item has changed

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:"2", 3:3}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {'type_changes': ["root[2]: 2=<type 'int'> vs. 2=<type 'str'>"]}

Value of an item has changed

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> print (ddiff.changes)
    {'values_changed': ['root[2]: 2 ====>> 4']}

Item added and/or removed

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:4}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3, 5:5, 6:6}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes)
    {'dic_item_added': ['root[5, 6]'],
     'dic_item_removed': ['root[4]'],
     'values_changed': ['root[2]: 2 ====>> 4']}

String difference

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world"}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:4, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world!"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'values_changed': [ 'root[2]: 2 ====>> 4',
                          "root[4]['b']:\n--- \n+++ \n@@ -1 +1 @@\n-world\n+world!"]}
>>>
>>> print (ddiff.changes['values_changed'][1])
    root[4]['b']:
    --- 
    +++ 
    @@ -1 +1 @@
    -world
    +world!

String difference 2

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world!\nGoodbye!\n1\n2\nEnd"}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world\n1\n2\nEnd"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'values_changed': [ "root[4]['b']:\n--- \n+++ \n@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@\n-world!\n-Goodbye!\n+world\n 1\n 2\n End"]}
>>>
>>> print (ddiff.changes['values_changed'][0])
    root[4]['b']:
    --- 
    +++ 
    @@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
    -world!
    -Goodbye!
    +world
     1
     2
     End

Type change

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":"world\n\n\nEnd"}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'type_changes': [ "root[4]['b']: [1, 2, 3]=<type 'list'> vs. world\n\n\nEnd=<type 'str'>"]}

List difference

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'list_removed': ["root[4]['b']: [3]"]}

List difference 2: Note that it DOES NOT take order into account

>>> # Note that it DOES NOT take order into account
... t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, 3]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 3, 2]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { }

List that contains dictionary:

>>> t1 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, {1:1, 2:2}]}}
>>> t2 = {1:1, 2:2, 3:3, 4:{"a":"hello", "b":[1, 2, {1:3}]}}
>>> ddiff = DeepDiff(t1, t2)
>>> pprint (ddiff.changes, indent = 2)
    { 'dic_item_removed': ["root[4]['b'][2][2]"],
      'values_changed': ["root[4]['b'][2][1]: 1 ====>> 3"]}

Answer 3

Here is a very simple solution. It returns a list of lists containing all the first and second level dictionary keys for the elements that differ. Hope that is what you wanted :)

a = {'home':{'name': 'Team1', 'score': 0}, 'away':{'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}
b = {'home':{'name': 'Team1', 'score': 2}, 'away':{'name': 'Team2', 'score': 0}}

diffs = []
for i in a:
    for j in a[i]:
        if a[i][j] != b[i][j]:
            diffs += [i, j]

print diffs

Cheers!