Python – ‘too many values to unpack’, iterating over a dict. key=>string, value=>list

python

I am getting the 'too many values to unpack' error. Any idea how I can fix this?

first_names = ['foo', 'bar']
last_names = ['gravy', 'snowman']

fields = {
    'first_names': first_names,
    'last_name': last_names,
}        

for field, possible_values in fields:  # error happens on this line

Best Answer

Python 3

for field, possible_values in fields.items():
    print(field, possible_values)

Since Python 3 iteritems() is no longer supported. Use items() instead.

Python 2

You need to use something like iteritems.

for field, possible_values in fields.iteritems():
    print field, possible_values

See this answer for more information on iterating through dictionaries, such as using items(), across python versions.

Related Solutions

Python – How to determine the size of an object in Python

Just use the sys.getsizeof function defined in the sys module.

sys.getsizeof(object[, default]):

Return the size of an object in bytes. The object can be any type of object. All built-in objects will return correct results, but this does not have to hold true for third-party extensions as it is implementation specific.

Only the memory consumption directly attributed to the object is accounted for, not the memory consumption of objects it refers to.

The default argument allows to define a value which will be returned if the object type does not provide means to retrieve the size and would cause a TypeError.

getsizeof calls the object’s __sizeof__ method and adds an additional garbage collector overhead if the object is managed by the garbage collector.

See recursive sizeof recipe for an example of using getsizeof() recursively to find the size of containers and all their contents.

Usage example, in python 3.0:

>>> import sys
>>> x = 2
>>> sys.getsizeof(x)
24
>>> sys.getsizeof(sys.getsizeof)
32
>>> sys.getsizeof('this')
38
>>> sys.getsizeof('this also')
48

If you are in python < 2.6 and don't have sys.getsizeof you can use this extensive module instead. Never used it though.

Python – “Too many values to unpack” Exception

That exception means that you are trying to unpack a tuple, but the tuple has too many values with respect to the number of target variables. For example: this work, and prints 1, then 2, then 3

def returnATupleWithThreeValues():
    return (1,2,3)
a,b,c = returnATupleWithThreeValues()
print a
print b
print c

But this raises your error

def returnATupleWithThreeValues():
    return (1,2,3)
a,b = returnATupleWithThreeValues()
print a
print b

raises

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c.py", line 3, in ?
    a,b = returnATupleWithThreeValues()
ValueError: too many values to unpack

Now, the reason why this happens in your case, I don't know, but maybe this answer will point you in the right direction.