Dictionary | Godot Docs 4.3

Dictionary

A built-in data structure that holds key-value pairs.

Dictionaries are associative containers that contain values referenced by unique keys. Dictionaries will preserve the insertion order when adding new entries. In other programming languages, this data structure is often referred to as a hash map or an associative array.

You can define a dictionary by placing a comma-separated list of key: value pairs inside curly braces {}.

Creating a dictionary:

var my_dict = {} # Creates an empty dictionary.

var dict_variable_key = "Another key name"
var dict_variable_value = "value2"
var another_dict = {
    "Some key name": "value1",
    dict_variable_key: dict_variable_value,
}

var points_dict = {"White": 50, "Yellow": 75, "Orange": 100}

# Alternative Lua-style syntax.
# Doesn't require quotes around keys, but only string constants can be used as key names.
# Additionally, key names must start with a letter or an underscore.
# Here, `some_key` is a string literal, not a variable!
another_dict = {
    some_key = 42,
}

You can access a dictionary's value by referencing its corresponding key. In the above example, points_dict["White"] will return 50. You can also write points_dict.White, which is equivalent. However, you'll have to use the bracket syntax if the key you're accessing the dictionary with isn't a fixed string (such as a number or variable).

@export_enum("White", "Yellow", "Orange") var my_color: String
var points_dict = {"White": 50, "Yellow": 75, "Orange": 100}
func _ready():
    # We can't use dot syntax here as `my_color` is a variable.
    var points = points_dict[my_color]

In the above code, points will be assigned the value that is paired with the appropriate color selected in my_color.

Dictionaries can contain more complex data:

var my_dict = {
    "First Array": [1, 2, 3, 4] # Assigns an Array to a String key.
}

To add a key to an existing dictionary, access it like an existing key and assign to it:

var points_dict = {"White": 50, "Yellow": 75, "Orange": 100}
points_dict["Blue"] = 150 # Add "Blue" as a key and assign 150 as its value.

Finally, dictionaries can contain different types of keys and values in the same dictionary:

# This is a valid dictionary.
# To access the string "Nested value" below, use `my_dict.sub_dict.sub_key` or `my_dict["sub_dict"]["sub_key"]`.
# Indexing styles can be mixed and matched depending on your needs.
var my_dict = {
    "String Key": 5,
    4: [1, 2, 3],
    7: "Hello",
    "sub_dict": {"sub_key": "Nested value"},
}

The keys of a dictionary can be iterated with the for keyword:

var groceries = {"Orange": 20, "Apple": 2, "Banana": 4}
for fruit in groceries:
    var amount = groceries[fruit]

Dictionary

()

:Dictionary

Constructs an empty Dictionary.

Dictionary

(

Dictionary

from

:Dictionary

)

:Dictionary

Returns the same dictionary as from. If you need a copy of the dictionary, use duplicate.

bool

operator !=

(

Dictionary

right

:Dictionary

)

:bool

Returns true if the two dictionaries do not contain the same keys and values.

bool

operator ==

(

Dictionary

right

:Dictionary

)

:bool

Returns true if the two dictionaries contain the same keys and values. The order of the entries does not matter.

Note: In C#, by convention, this operator compares by reference. If you need to compare by value, iterate over both dictionaries.

Variant

operator []

(

Variant

key

:Variant

)

:Variant

Returns the corresponding value for the given key in the dictionary. If the entry does not exist, fails and returns null. For safe access, use get or has.

void

clear

()

:void

Clears the dictionary, removing all entries from it.

Dictionary

duplicate

(

bool

deep

=false

deep

:bool

=false

)

:Dictionary

Creates and returns a new copy of the dictionary. If deep is true, inner Dictionary and Array keys and values are also copied, recursively.

bool

erase

(

Variant

key

:Variant

)

:bool

Removes the dictionary entry by key, if it exists. Returns true if the given key existed in the dictionary, otherwise false.

Note: Do not erase entries while iterating over the dictionary. You can iterate over the keys array instead.

Variant

find_key

(

Variant

value

:Variant

)

:Variant

Finds and returns the first key whose associated value is equal to value, or null if it is not found.

Note: null is also a valid key. If inside the dictionary, find_key may give misleading results.

Variant

get

(

Variant

key

:Variant

Variant

default

=null

default

:Variant

=null

)

:Variant

Returns the corresponding value for the given key in the dictionary. If the key does not exist, returns default, or null if the parameter is omitted.

Variant

get_or_add

(

Variant

key

:Variant

Variant

default

=null

default

:Variant

=null

)

:Variant

Gets a value and ensures the key is set. If the key exists in the dictionary, this behaves like get. Otherwise, the default value is inserted into the dictionary and returned.

bool

has

(

Variant

key

:Variant

)

:bool

Returns true if the dictionary contains an entry with the given key.

var my_dict = {
    "Godot" : 4,
    210 : null,
}

print(my_dict.has("Godot")) # Prints true
print(my_dict.has(210))     # Prints true
print(my_dict.has(4))       # Prints false

In GDScript, this is equivalent to the in operator:

if "Godot" in {"Godot": 4}:
    print("The key is here!") # Will be printed.

Note: This method returns true as long as the key exists, even if its corresponding value is null.

bool

has_all

(

Array

keys

:Array

)

:bool

Returns true if the dictionary contains all keys in the given keys array.

var data = {"width" : 10, "height" : 20}
data.has_all(["height", "width"]) # Returns true

int

hash

()

:int

Returns a hashed 32-bit integer value representing the dictionary contents.

var dict1 = {"A": 10, "B": 2}
var dict2 = {"A": 10, "B": 2}

print(dict1.hash() == dict2.hash()) # Prints true

Note: Dictionaries with the same entries but in a different order will not have the same hash.

Note: Dictionaries with equal hash values are not guaranteed to be the same, because of hash collisions. On the contrary, dictionaries with different hash values are guaranteed to be different.

bool

is_empty

()

:bool

Returns true if the dictionary is empty (its size is 0). See also size.

bool

is_read_only

()

:bool

Returns true if the dictionary is read-only. See make_read_only. Dictionaries are automatically read-only if declared with const keyword.

Array

keys

()

:Array

Returns the list of keys in the dictionary.

void

make_read_only

()

:void

Makes the dictionary read-only, i.e. disables modification of the dictionary's contents. Does not apply to nested content, e.g. content of nested dictionaries.

void

merge

(

Dictionary

dictionary

:Dictionary

bool

overwrite

=false

overwrite

:bool

=false

)

:void

Adds entries from dictionary to this dictionary. By default, duplicate keys are not copied over, unless overwrite is true.

var dict = { "item": "sword", "quantity": 2 }
var other_dict = { "quantity": 15, "color": "silver" }

# Overwriting of existing keys is disabled by default.
dict.merge(other_dict)
print(dict)  # { "item": "sword", "quantity": 2, "color": "silver" }

# With overwriting of existing keys enabled.
dict.merge(other_dict, true)
print(dict)  # { "item": "sword", "quantity": 15, "color": "silver" }

Note: merge is not recursive. Nested dictionaries are considered as keys that can be overwritten or not depending on the value of overwrite, but they will never be merged together.

int

size

()

:int

Returns the number of entries in the dictionary. Empty dictionaries ({ }) always return 0. See also is_empty.

Array

values

()

:Array

Returns the list of values in this dictionary.