Iterate Over Dictionary Keys, Values, and Items in Python

In Python, you can iterate over a dictionary (dict) using the keys(), values(), or items() methods in a for loop. You can also convert the keys, values, or items of a dictionary into a list using the list() function.

See the following article for the basics of for loops in Python.

• Python for loop (with range, enumerate, zip, and more)

Consider the following dictionary as an example.

d = {'key1': 1, 'key2': 2, 'key3': 3}

You can iterate over dictionary keys simply by using the dictionary itself in a for loop. To get a list of all its keys, simply pass a dictionary to list().

for k in d:
    print(k)
# key1
# key2
# key3

print(list(d))
# ['key1', 'key2', 'key3']

print(type(list(d)))
# <class 'list'>

Iterate over dictionary keys: keys()

As mentioned above, you can iterate over dictionary keys by directly using the dictionary object, but you can also use keys(). The result is the same, but using keys() can make your code's intention clearer to the reader.

• Built-in Types - dict.keys() — Python 3.13.3 documentation

for k in d.keys():
    print(k)
# key1
# key2
# key3

The keys() method returns dict_keys, which can be converted to a list using list().

print(d.keys())
# dict_keys(['key1', 'key2', 'key3'])

print(type(d.keys()))
# <class 'dict_keys'>

print(list(d.keys()))
# ['key1', 'key2', 'key3']

print(type(list(d.keys())))
# <class 'list'>

You can use dict_keys to perform set operations. See the following article for details.

• Set operations on multiple dictionary keys in Python

Iterate over dictionary values: values()

To iterate over dictionary values, use the values() method.

• Built-in Types - dict.values() — Python 3.13.3 documentation

for v in d.values():
    print(v)
# 1
# 2
# 3

The values() method returns dict_values, which can be converted to a list using list().

print(d.values())
# dict_values([1, 2, 3])

print(type(d.values()))
# <class 'dict_values'>

print(list(d.values()))
# [1, 2, 3]

print(type(list(d.values())))
# <class 'list'>

Iterate over dictionary key-value pairs: items()

To iterate over dictionary key-value pairs, use the items() method.

• Built-in Types - dict.items() — Python 3.13.3 documentation

for k, v in d.items():
    print(k, v)
# key1 1
# key2 2
# key3 3

You can also receive the key-value pairs as (key, value) tuples in the loop.

for t in d.items():
    print(t)
    print(type(t))
    print(t[0])
    print(t[1])
    print('---')
# ('key1', 1)
# <class 'tuple'>
# key1
# 1
# ---
# ('key2', 2)
# <class 'tuple'>
# key2
# 2
# ---
# ('key3', 3)
# <class 'tuple'>
# key3
# 3
# ---

The items() method returns dict_items, which can be converted to a list using list().

print(d.items())
# dict_items([('key1', 1), ('key2', 2), ('key3', 3)])

print(type(d.items()))
# <class 'dict_items'>

print(list(d.items()))
# [('key1', 1), ('key2', 2), ('key3', 3)]

print(type(list(d.items())))
# <class 'list'>

print(type(list(d.items())[0]))
# <class 'tuple'>

You can also use dict_items to perform set operations. See the following article for details.

• Set operations on multiple dictionary keys in Python