Create CSV file from List of Dictionaries in Python

In this article, we will discuss how to create a csv file from a list of dictionaries in Python.

Table Of Contents

Introduction to Problem

Suppose we have a list of dictionaries. Like this,

# List of dictionaries
listOfDict = [
    {'Name' : 'Ritika', 'Age' : 27, 'City' : 'Delhi',     'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Mark',   'Age' : 28, 'City' : 'Sydney',    'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Suse',   'Age' : 29, 'City' : 'Las Vegas', 'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Shaun',  'Age' : 30, 'City' : 'London',    'Country' : 'India'} ]

Now, we want to create a csv file from this list of dictionaries. Keys of the dictionaries should be the column names in the csv file. Whereas, values of each dictionary should be a row in the csv file. Contents of csv file should be like this,

Name,Age,City,Country
Ritika,27,Delhi,India
Mark,28,Sydney,India
Suse,29,Las Vegas,India
Shaun,30,London,India

Let’s see how to do this.

Solution

Open the csv file in write mode, and get a file object. Pass the file object & list of column names to DictWriter() function of csv module, to get the DictWriter object. Then call the writeheader() function of DictWriter object to add the header in the csv file. Then call the writerows() function of DictWriter object with the list of dictionaries. It will add the values of each dictionary as a row in the csv file.

Let’s see an example,

import csv

# List of dictionaries
listOfDict = [
    {'Name' : 'Ritika', 'Age' : 27, 'City' : 'Delhi',     'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Mark',   'Age' : 28, 'City' : 'Sydney',    'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Suse',   'Age' : 29, 'City' : 'Las Vegas', 'Country' : 'India'},
    {'Name' : 'Shaun',  'Age' : 30, 'City' : 'London',    'Country' : 'India'} ]

# Open the csv file in write mode
with open('employees.csv', 'w') as fileObject:
    # Get a DictWriter object
    writerObj = csv.DictWriter(
                        fileObject,
                        fieldnames = listOfDict[0].keys())
    # Add Header to csv file
    writerObj.writeheader()
    # Add rows in the csv file
    writerObj.writerows(listOfDict)

It will create a csv file employees.csv with the following contents,

Name,Age,City,Country
Ritika,27,Delhi,India
Mark,28,Sydney,India
Suse,29,Las Vegas,India
Shaun,30,London,India

Summary

We learned how to create csv file from a list of dictionaries in Python. Thanks.