What is the difference between a dictionary and a defaultdict in Python?

What is the difference between a dictionary and a defaultdict in Python?

Blog Article

A dictionary is a collection of key-value pairs, where each key is unique. It is defined using curly braces ({}) or the dict() function.

A defaultdict is a subclass of dictionary that provides a default value for missing keys. It is defined using the defaultdict() function from the collections module and simplifies handling missing keys.

In full-stack development, dictionaries are used for general-purpose data storage, while defaultdicts are used for handling missing keys gracefully. For example, a defaultdict might be used to count occurrences of items in a list.