Why do I get a TypeError when indexing a dictionary .items() result?

mydict = {"key1": "value1", "key2": "value2"}

l = list(mydict.items())

print(l[0]) # ('key1', 'value1')

.items() returns an iterator that iterates though the items in dictionary. If you want all the items in a list, call list(mydict.items()) to get all the items from the iterator and put them into a list.

dict.items() returns a view object which is iterable. It is not, however, a sequence. Sequences can be indexed. Iterables cannot necessarily be indexed.

The list function accepts an iterable as its only parameter. Therefore we can construct a list by passing a reference to the view object to list as follows:

mydict = {"key1": "value1", "key2": "value2"}
lst = list(mydict.items())

We can then access each of the tuples in lst by traditional indexing e.g.,

print(lst[0])

Perhaps clarify the distinction between Iterator and Iterable.

e.g.,

from collections.abc import Iterable, Iterator
items = dict().items()
print(isinstance(items, Iterable))
print(isinstance(items, Iterator))

...which emits...

True False

use code block to format it. And you could describe what you do, and why you do.