Can the get() method for a dictionary be used without assigning the result to a variable?

Question

In this exercise, the get() method return is assigned to a variable even if nothing is return. Is it possible to use the method without assigning the result to a variable?

Answer

Yes, you can use the get() method without assigning the result to a variable. In that case, it would function more like an alternative to checking for a key using in. The following code example shows the use of the get() method as part of an if to check whether a key exists in the dictionary and then the same check using the more conventional in style. Both produce the same result - the print() function is called to report that “Data was not found”.

directions = { "North": 10, "South": 5, "East": 20, "West":40 }

if directions.get('NorthWest'):
    print("Data exists")
else:
    print("Data was not found")
    
if 'NorthWest' in directions:
    print("Data exists")
else:
    print("Data was not found")
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