Safe access using get() in Python - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of safe dictionary access with get()

What is the output of this Python code snippet?

Python

data = {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30}
result = data.get('city', 'Unknown')
print(result)

A "Unknown"

B "city"

C None

D KeyError

💡 Hint

get() returns the value for the key if it exists, otherwise the default value.

Since 'city' is not a key in the dictionary, get() returns the default value 'Unknown'.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Using get() without default value

What will this code print?

Python

info = {'x': 10, 'y': 20}
print(info.get('z'))

A "z"

B 0

C KeyError

D None

💡 Hint

If no default is given, get() returns None for missing keys.

The key 'z' is missing, so get() returns None by default.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Nested dictionary safe access with get()

What is the output of this code?

Python

profile = {'user': {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25}}
age = profile.get('user', {}).get('age', 'Not found')
print(age)

A KeyError

B "Not found"

C 25

D None

💡 Hint

get() can be chained safely to avoid errors on missing keys.

Both keys exist, so the age 25 is returned and printed.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Safe access with get() and missing nested key

What will this code print?

Python

data = {'settings': {'theme': 'dark'}}
mode = data.get('settings', {}).get('mode', 'default')
print(mode)

A "default"

B None

C "mode"

D KeyError

💡 Hint

If the nested key is missing, get() returns the default value.

The key 'mode' is missing inside 'settings', so 'default' is returned.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Behavior of get() with mutable default argument

Consider this code: my_dict = {} value = my_dict.get('key', []) value.append(1) print(my_dict) What will be printed?

A {'key': [1]}

B {}

C []

D KeyError

💡 Hint

get() returns the default but does not insert it into the dictionary.

The default list is returned and modified, but the dictionary remains empty because get() does not add the key.