Flatten It uses iteration (no recursion) to flatten iterables into a dictionary where each key is a reference path and each value is the value at the respective path.

• Produces valid Python or JS reference paths for string and numeric keys.
• Raises ValueError on circular references.
• Iterative algorithm; flatten deeply nested structures without causing a call stack overflow.

• Installation
• Usage
• API
• Test

pip install flatten_iterables

In this example, an object named data will be flattened into a dictionary of reference paths and their respective values. The resulting dictionary will be dumped to a JSON string.

import json
import flatten_iterables as fi

data = {
    "dict": {"a": 42},
    "list": [42],
    "nested_dicts": {"a0": {"b0": 42, "b1": 23}},
    "nested_lists": [
        [
            42,
        ],
    ],
    ...: 42,
}

print(json.dumps(fi.flatten(data), indent=2))

{
  "['dict']['a']": 42,
  "['list'][0]": 42,
  "['nested_dicts']['a0']['b0']": 42,
  "['nested_dicts']['a0']['b1']": 23,
  "['nested_lists'][0][0]": 42,
  "[Ellipsis]": 42
}

By default Flatten It will flatten structures that contain instances of list and dict. However, you can flatten structures containing other types of iterables and mappings by adding their respective types to the iterables and mappables sets.

In this example, a structure containing the types set and OrderedDict will be flattened. The type set is added to the iterables set and the type OrderedDict is added to the mappables set.

import json
import flatten_iterables as fi
from collections import OrderedDict

fi.iterables.add(set)
fi.mappables.add(OrderedDict)

data = {
    "set": {23, 42, 57},
    "ordered_dict": OrderedDict(a=23, b=42, c=57),
}

print(json.dumps(fi.flatten(data), indent=2))

{
  "['set'][0]": 57,
  "['set'][1]": 42,
  "['set'][2]": 23,
  "['ordered_dict']['a']": 23,
  "['ordered_dict']['b']": 42,
  "['ordered_dict']['c']": 57
}

fi.flatten(it)

• it Union[Iterable, Mapping] The iterable or mapping to be flattened.

fi.key_style Literal["python", "js"] Specify a key style. Default: python

fi.iterables Set[Iterables] Add iterable candidates to this set. Default: {list}

fi.mappables Set[Mapping] Add mappable candidates to this set. Default: {dict}

Clone the repository.

git clone https://github.com/faranalytics/flatten_iterables.git

Change directory into the root of the repository.

cd flatten_iterables

Install the package in editable mode.

pip install -e .

Run the tests.

python -m unittest -v