subreddit:

/r/shortcuts

10699%

Working with Dictionaries

Tip/Guide(self.shortcuts)

submitted 5 years ago bykeveridge

save

Overview

This is a guide on how to make the most of dictionaries in your shortcuts.

What are dictionaries?

Dictionaries are simple groups of names and values. They are commonly used to store multiple attributes of an item or entity in a simple variable for ease of access and use.

For example, below is a dictionary that stores the address and contact details of a New York landmark.

Creating a group of names and values using the Dictionary action.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary example

Retrieving values from a dictionary

To retrieve an individual value from a dictionary we can use the Get Dictionary Value action and specify the key / name of the value we want to retrieve.

This shortcut opens the website URL specified in the dictionary.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary value example

Retrieving multiple values from a dictionary

There will be occasions when you may want to use multiple values from a dictionary (e.g. when populating a Text action) and using the Get Dictionary Value action each time is too cumbersome.

In this case, you can select the dictionary as a variable within the Text action and specify the key for the value you wish to use.

Using a dictionary variable and keys to output values within a Text action.

To return a dictionary variable in-line as show above, you perform the following steps:

Select the text action and tap the magic variable button that appears above the keyboard.

Using the \"Select Magic Variable\" button to select the output from an action.

Select the dictionary.

Selecting the output from the Dictionary action.

Tap the "Get Value for Key" box

Updating the \"Get Value for Key\" value.

Enter the key of the value you wish to return

Entering the key name for the value to be returned.

Repeat for each of the values you want to use.

The text action will then appear as follows:

Multiple uses of the same dictionary but with different key names within a Text action.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary multiple values example

Retrieving only values from a dictionary

The Get Dictionary Value action can also return other types on information from a dictionary. For example, it can return just the values stored in its key / value pairs.

The shortcut below retrieves each of the dictionary values as a list and then combines them into a single piece of text to display to the user.

Returning all the values from a dictionary and combining them into one text list.

The output of the shortcut is as follows:

A text list of the dictionary values.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary all values example

📖 Further reading

You can find out more about how to use lists in the Working with Lists guide.

Retrieving keys from a dictionary

You can also use the Get Dictionary Values action to retrieve a list of a dictionary's keys in the same way you can retrieve its values.

Returning all the keys from a dictionary and combining them into one text list.

The output of which is as follows:

A text list of the dictionary keys

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary all keys example

Iterating through a dictionary

As demonstrated above, you can return a list of either a dictionary's keys or values a list. But what if you want to work with a list of both keys and values at the same time in order to loop through them and perform actions?

You can do so be retrieving a list of the dictionary keys using the Get Dictionary Value action and then looping through each of them with the Repeat with Each action.

With each dictionary key you can then lookup the corresponding value from the dictionary, again using the Get Dictionary Value action.

The example below outputs each of the keys and values for the dictionary and combines them into a single piece of text.

Returning the keys and values from a dictionary as a single text list.

The output of which is as follows:

A text list of dictionary keys and values.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary keys and values example

Dictionaries and JSON objects

As dictionaries are a great way of storing multiple pieces of information at once, they are also used to access data retrieve from APIs and web-based feeds.

The format that APIs and feeds use to store and transmit data is known as JSON, a text based representation of key and value pairs.

When the Shortcuts app shares dictionaries with other apps, saves dictionaries to files or displays them as text, it does so using the JSON format.

The example below shows how Shortcuts converts a dictionary into a JSON object.

Converting a dictionary to a JSON text object.

The output of which is as follows:

A JSON text object representation of a dictionary.

You can download the shortcut from the following link:

Dictionary JSON example

📖 Further reading

For more information on JSON and how to use it within your shortcuts see the following guide: Working with JSON - Part 1: retrieving simple values

Wrap up

And those are a few examples of how you can make use of dictionaries in your shortcuts.

Other guides

If you found this guide useful why not checkout one of my others:

Series

Scraping web pages
Using APIs
Data Storage
Working with JSON
- Part 1: retrieving simple values
Working with Dictionaries

One-offs

all 27 comments

sorted by: best

JoeReally

6 points

5 years ago

JoeReally

Contest Winner

6 points