I must be missing something simple, but...
Python 3.4.0 (default, Apr 11 2014, 13:05:11) [GCC 4.8.2] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> d = dict() >>> d['squib'] = "007" >>> # I forget that 'squib' is my key to retrieve the only element in d ... >>> type(d.items()) <class 'dict_items'> >>> key = d.items()[0] Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: 'dict_items' object does not support indexing >>> key,_ = d.items() Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack >>> key,b = d.items() Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack >>> print(d.items()) dict_items([('squib', '007')]) >>> print(d.items()[0]) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: 'dict_items' object does not support indexing >>> what am I missing? I don't want to iterate over the dictionary. I know that there's only one element and I need to retrieve the key thanks -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list