Python and default dict, how to pprint

Question

I am using default dict. I need to pprint.

However, when I pprint ...this is how it looks.

defaultdict(<functools.partial object at 0x1f68418>, {u'300:250': defaultdict(<functools.partial object at 0x1f683c0>, {0: defaultdict(<type 'list'>, {u'agid1430864021': {u'status': u'0', u'exclude_regi.......... 

How to I get pprint to work with default dict?

Answer 1

I've used pprint(dict(defaultdict)) before as a work-around.

Answer 2

The best solution I've found is a bit of a hack, but an elegant one (if a hack can ever be):

class PrettyDefaultDict(collections.defaultdict):     __repr__ = dict.__repr__ 

And then use the PrettyDefaultDict class instead of collections.defaultdict. It works because of the way the pprint module works (at least on 2.7):

r = getattr(typ, "__repr__", None) if issubclass(typ, dict) and r is dict.__repr__:     # follows pprint dict formatting 

This way we "trick" pprint into thinking that our dictionary class is just like a normal dict.