=========
multidict
=========
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Multidict is dict-like collection of *key-value pairs* where key
might occur more than once in the container.
Introduction
------------
*HTTP Headers* and *URL query string* require specific data structure:
*multidict*. It behaves mostly like a regular ``dict`` but it may have
several *values* for the same *key* and *preserves insertion ordering*.
The *key* is ``str`` (or ``istr`` for case-insensitive dictionaries).
``multidict`` has four multidict classes:
``MultiDict``, ``MultiDictProxy``, ``CIMultiDict``
and ``CIMultiDictProxy``.
Immutable proxies (``MultiDictProxy`` and
``CIMultiDictProxy``) provide a dynamic view for the
proxied multidict, the view reflects underlying collection changes. They
implement the ``collections.abc.Mapping`` interface.
Regular mutable (``MultiDict`` and ``CIMultiDict``) classes
implement ``collections.abc.MutableMapping`` and allows them to change
their own content.
*Case insensitive* (``CIMultiDict`` and
``CIMultiDictProxy``) assume the *keys* are case
insensitive, e.g.::
>>> dct = CIMultiDict(key='val')
>>> 'Key' in dct
True
>>> dct['Key']
'val'
*Keys* should be ``str`` or ``istr`` instances.
The library has optional C Extensions for speed.
License
-------
Apache 2
Library Installation
--------------------
.. code-block:: bash
$ pip install multidict
The library is Python 3 only!
PyPI contains binary wheels for Linux, Windows and MacOS. If you want to install
``multidict`` on another operating system (or *Alpine Linux* inside a Docker) the
tarball will be used to compile the library from source. It requires a C compiler and
Python headers to be installed.
To skip the compilation, please use the `MULTIDICT_NO_EXTENSIONS` environment variable,
e.g.:
.. code-block:: bash
$ MULTIDICT_NO_EXTENSIONS=1 pip install multidict
Please note, the pure Python (uncompiled) version is about 20-50 times slower depending on
the usage scenario!!!
Changelog
---------
See `RTD page `_.