Django template how to look up a dictionary value with a variable

mydict = {"key1":"value1", "key2":"value2"}

The regular way to lookup a dictionary value in a Django template is {{ mydict.key1 }}, {{ mydict.key2 }}. What if the key is a loop variable? ie:

{% for item in list %} # where item has an attribute NAME
  {{ mydict.item.NAME }} # I want to look up mydict[item.NAME]
{% endfor %}

mydict.item.NAME fails. How to fix this?

Answers:

Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Method 1

Write a custom template filter:

from django.template.defaulttags import register
...
@register.filter
def get_item(dictionary, key):
    return dictionary.get(key)

(I use .get so that if the key is absent, it returns none. If you do dictionary[key] it will raise a KeyError then.)

usage:

{{ mydict|get_item:item.NAME }}

Method 2

Fetch both the key and the value from the dictionary in the loop:

{% for key, value in mydict.items %}
    {{ value }}
{% endfor %}

I find this easier to read and it avoids the need for special coding. I usually need the key and the value inside the loop anyway.

Method 3

You can’t by default. The dot is the separator / trigger for attribute lookup / key lookup / slice.

Dots have a special meaning in template rendering. A dot in a variable
name signifies a lookup. Specifically, when the template system
encounters a dot in a variable name, it tries the following lookups,
in this order:

• Dictionary lookup. Example: foo[“bar”]
• Attribute lookup. Example: foo.bar
• List-index lookup. Example: foo[bar]

But you can make a filter which lets you pass in an argument:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/custom-template-tags/#writing-custom-template-filters

@register.filter(name='lookup')
def lookup(value, arg):
    return value[arg]

{{ mydict|lookup:item.name }}

Method 4

For me creating a python file named template_filters.py in my App with below content did the job

# coding=utf-8
from django.template.base import Library

register = Library()


@register.filter
def get_item(dictionary, key):
    return dictionary.get(key)

usage is like what culebrón said :

{{ mydict|get_item:item.NAME }}

Method 5

I had a similar situation. However I used a different solution.

In my model I create a property that does the dictionary lookup. In the template I then use the property.

In my model: –

@property
def state_(self):
    """ Return the text of the state rather than an integer """
    return self.STATE[self.state]

In my template: –

The state is: {{ item.state_ }}

Method 6

Environment: Django 2.2

1. Example code:

    from django.template.defaulttags import register

    @register.filter(name='lookup')
    def lookup(value, arg):
        return value.get(arg)

I put this code in a file named template_filters.py in my project folder named portfoliomgr

2. No matter where you put your filter code, make sure you have __init__.py in that folder
3. Add that file to libraries section in templates section in your projectfolder/settings.py file. For me, it is portfoliomgr/settings.py

    TEMPLATES = [
        {
            'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
            'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
            'APP_DIRS': True,
            'OPTIONS': {
                'context_processors': [
                    'django.template.context_processors.debug',
                    'django.template.context_processors.request',
                    'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
                    'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
                ],
                'libraries':{
                    'template_filters': 'portfoliomgr.template_filters',
                }
            },
        },
    ]

4. In your html code load the library

   {% load template_filters %}

Method 7

Since I can’t comment, let me do this in the form of an answer:
to build on culebrón’s answer or Yuji ‘Tomita’ Tomita’s answer, the dictionary passed into the function is in the form of a string, so perhaps use ast.literal_eval to convert the string to a dictionary first, like in this example.

With this edit, the code should look like this:

# code for custom template tag
@register.filter(name='lookup')
def lookup(value, arg):
    value_dict = ast.literal_eval(value)
    return value_dict.get(arg)

<!--template tag (in the template)-->
{{ mydict|lookup:item.name }}

Method 8

env: django 2.1.7

view:

dict_objs[query_obj.id] = {'obj': query_obj, 'tag': str_tag}
return render(request, 'obj.html', {'dict_objs': dict_objs})

template:

{% for obj_id,dict_obj in dict_objs.items %}
<td>{{ dict_obj.obj.obj_name }}</td>
<td style="display:none">{{ obj_id }}</td>
<td>{{ forloop.counter }}</td>
<td>{{ dict_obj.obj.update_timestamp|date:"Y-m-d H:i:s"}}</td>

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0