Python Safely Navigate a Complex Data Structure

Internal

• dict
• YAML in Python
• JSON in Python

Overview

yaml = ...
v = None
first_level_map = yaml.get('first_level_key', {}) # if 'first_level_key' does not exist at all, return {}, but if it exists and has nothing under it, it returns None.
if first_level_map:
  second_level_map = first_level_map.get('second_level_key')
  if second_level_map:
    v = second_level_map.get('leaf_key')
return v