How to check if a dictionary is empty in Python

There are three ways you can check for an empty dictionary in Python:

1. Use the if-else statement
2. Use the len() function
3. Use the equality comparison == operator

This tutorial shows how you can use the three solutions above in practice.

1. Use the if-else statement

To check if a dictionary is empty in Python, you can use an if statement followed by the dictionary variable name.

An empty dictionary will evaluate to a boolean False when empty, so the if statement below only runs when the dictionary is not empty:

dict1 = {}

if dict1:
    print("Dictionary is not empty")
else:
    print("Dictionary is empty")  # ✅

Output:

Dictionary is empty

Because the dictionary is empty, the else statement is executed.

2. Use the len() function

You can also check for an empty dictionary by using the len() function.

The len() function returns the length of the dictionary object you passed as its argument, which means it shows how many key-value pairs you have in the dictionary.

To check if the dictionary is empty, check if the object’s length is greater than 0 as follows:

dict1 = {"name": "Nathan"}

if len(dict1) > 0:
    print("Dictionary is not empty")  # ✅
else:
    print("Dictionary is empty")

Again, the if statement is only executed when the dict1 object is not empty.

3. Use the equality comparison == operator

The third way you can check if a dictionary is empty is by using the equality comparison == operator.

Use this operator and compare the object with an empty dictionary {} as follows:

dict1 = {"name": "Nathan"}

if dict1 == {}:
    print("Dictionary is empty")
else:
    print("Dictionary is not empty")  # ✅

This check is usually the best as you exactly need an empty dictionary to trigger the if statement.

When you use the if dict1 statement, the evaluation returns True when you pass a truthy value, such as True or any integer except 0:

dict1 = True

if dict1:
    print("Dictionary is not empty")  # ✅
else:
    print("Dictionary is empty")

Even though the dict1 object above is not a dictionary, the if statement is executed anyway because it evaluates to True.

By using the equality comparison == operator, the object must exactly be an empty dictionary to trigger the if statement.

I hope this tutorial is helpful. Happy coding! 👍