How to create dict using csv file with first row as keys

Question

I'd like to create a list of dictionaries reading from a large csv file that uses the entries from the first row as keys. for example, test.csv

Header1, Header2, Header3
A,       1,       10
B,       2,       20
C,       3,       30

The resulting dict would look like:

MyList = [{'Header1': A, 'Header2': 1, 'Header3: 10}, {'Header1': B,     'Header2': 2, 'Header3: 20}, {'Header1': C, 'Header2': 3, 'Header3: 30}]

I know how to read a file, and think maybe a defaultdict from collections might be a good way, but can't get the syntax right.

Answer 1

This is exactly what csv.DictReader was made for.

import csv

with open('data.csv') as f:
    reader = csv.DictReader(f)
    for row in reader:
        print row

For the data.csv containing:

Header1,Header2,Header3
A,1,10
B,2,20
C,3,30

It prints:

{'Header2': '1', 'Header3': '10', 'Header1': 'A'}
{'Header2': '2', 'Header3': '20', 'Header1': 'B'}
{'Header2': '3', 'Header3': '30', 'Header1': 'C'}