[morello]

I understand how to do this:

>>> p = [1, 2, 3]
>>> q = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> d = dict(zip(p, q))

but messing around with this I found

>>> p = [1, 2, 3]
>>> q = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> z = zip(p, q)
>>> d = dict(z)

doesn't work. It creates an empty dict. Could anyone explain why this is, it feels like I have missed something important.

Python 3.3

[Dietrich]

Which version of Python are you using?

[Nyktos]

Works fine for me. Also on 3.3:

>>> p = [1, 2, 3]
>>> q = ['a', 'b', 'c']
>>> z = zip(p, q)
>>> d = dict(z)
>>> d
{1: 'a', 2: 'b', 3: 'c'}

Are you entirely certain you're not doing anything else in between? In particular, are you doing something with the zip object before passing it to dict? The iterator returned by zip yields each pair only once, so if you, for instance, try to make two dicts from it, the second one will be empty.

[Dietrich]

zip() in Python 3 gives a generator object

if you want to display z and use list(z) then z is consumed and needs to be regenerated

might be something you didn't tell us

[morello]

Yes you are absolutely right, thank you. I was using list() to check z before I made a dict().

Easy trap!