Python Dictionary Clear – With Examples

In python, the dictionary function clear() is used to remove all the items from a dictionary. In this tutorial we’ll look at its syntax and usage along with some examples.

Before we proceed, here’s a quick refresher on dictionaries in python – Dictionaries are a collection of items used for storing key to value mappings. They are mutable and hence we can update the dictionary by adding new key-value pairs, removing existing key-value pairs, or changing the value corresponding to a key. For more, check out our guide on dictionaries and other data structures in python.

How to remove all the items from a dictionary?

The python dictionary function clear() can be used to remove all the items from a dictionary. Example, d.clear(). You can also set the dictionary to an empty dictionary d = {}. The difference is, d.clear() modifies the dictionary in-place while d = {} creates a new empty dictionary and assigns it to d.

The clear() function

The following is the syntax for using the clear() function:

sample_dict.clear()

Here, sample_dict is the dictionary you want to clear out.

Parameters: The clear() function does not take any parameters.

Returns: It does not return any value (It returns None). It modifies the list in-place, meaning the original dictionary gets modified.

Example: Use the clear function to remove a dictionary’s items

# dictionary of a sample portfolio
shares = {'APPL': 100, 'GOOG': 50, 'MSFT': 200}

# print the dictionary
print("Shares:", shares)

# clear the dictionary
returned_val = shares.clear()

# print the dictionary
print("Shares:", shares)
print("The returned value:", returned_val)

Output:

Shares: {'APPL': 100, 'GOOG': 50, 'MSFT': 200}
Shares: {}
The returned value: None

In the above example, the clear() dictionary function is used to remove all the items from the dictionary shares. On printing the dictionary after the function call we see the original dictionary cleared out. As for the returned value, we see that it doesn’t actually return a value, it returns None.

For more on python dictionary functions, refer to the python docs.