Python 2.7: implementing accessing elements in a nested dictionary with conditional checks
I've hit a wall trying to I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but I've been struggling with this for a few days now and could really use some help. I'm working with a deeply nested dictionary in Python 2.7, and I'm working with a scenario when trying to access elements based on certain conditions. My dictionary looks something like this: ```python nested_dict = { 'a': { 'b': { 'c': 1 }, 'd': 2 }, 'e': { 'f': 3 } } ``` I want to access the value of 'c' only if it exists, and if it doesn't, I want to return a default value of 0. However, I also want to check if the key 'b' exists before trying to access 'c', to avoid raising a KeyError. I've tried using multiple if statements, but the code looks messy and is not very efficient. Here’s my current approach: ```python if 'a' in nested_dict and 'b' in nested_dict['a']: value_c = nested_dict['a']['b'].get('c', 0) else: value_c = 0 ``` While this works, I'm looking for a cleaner and more Pythonic way to achieve this. Is there a way to streamline this conditional checking? Any advice on best practices for accessing nested dictionary elements in Python 2.7 would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! My development environment is Linux. Is there a better approach? This is my first time working with Python stable. I'm on Debian using the latest version of Python. Has anyone else encountered this?