How can I create an array/list of dictionaries in python?

This is how I did it and it works:

dictlist = [dict() for x in range(n)]

It gives you a list of n empty dictionaries.

weightMatrix = [{'A':0,'C':0,'G':0,'T':0} for k in range(motifWidth)]

Use

weightMatrix = []
for k in range(motifWidth):
    weightMatrix.append({'A':0,'C':0,'G':0,'T':0})

Minor variation to user1850980's answer (for the question "How to initialize a list of empty dictionaries") using list constructor:

dictlistGOOD = list( {} for i in xrange(listsize) )

I found out to my chagrin, this does NOT work:

dictlistFAIL = [{}] * listsize  # FAIL!

as it creates a list of references to the same empty dictionary, so that if you update one dictionary in the list, all the other references get updated too.

Try these updates to see the difference:

dictlistGOOD[0]["key"] = "value"
dictlistFAIL[0]["key"] = "value"

(I was actually looking for user1850980's answer to the question asked, so his/her answer was helpful.)

Try this:

lst = []
##use append to add items to the list.

lst.append({'A':0,'C':0,'G':0,'T':0})
lst.append({'A':1,'C':1,'G':1,'T':1})

##if u need to add n no of items to the list, use range with append:
for i in range(n):
    lst.append({'A':0,'C':0,'G':0,'T':0})

print lst