Python Dictionaries – subtracting a value

In Python, if you have a dictionary (Groovy calls it a map) like the stock dictionary defined below… you can subtract from it pretty easily.  In the example below I had a function called compute_bill, at the end of which I subtract the stock item that is used in the total calculation.  So we sold an orange, we remove 1 orange from our stock.

shopping_list = ["banana", "orange", "apple"]

stock = {
    "banana": 6,
    "apple": 0,
    "orange": 32,
    "pear": 15
}
    
prices = {
    "banana": 4,
    "apple": 2,
    "orange": 1.5,
    "pear": 3
}

# Write your code below!
def compute_bill(food):
    total = 0
    for item in food:
        if(stock[item] > 0):
            print prices[item]
            total += prices[item]
            stock[item] = stock[item] - 1
    return total

In the iteration I make a call for item in food:

and do a stock[item] (our iterator) is stock[item] -1

That action automatically changes the value in the dictionary.  So if I had an orange with a  stock of 32, and I ran compute_bill(shopping_list), the stock on oranges will become 31.

To do this without a loop, you could simply call:

stock[‘orange’] – 3 and that would subtract 3 from the value of orange.