Currently, I'm using this:
d = {'a': 'xyz'}
k, v = list(*d.items())
The starred expression is required here, as omitting it causes the list function/constructor to return a list with a single tuple, which contains the key and value.
However, I was wondering if there were a better way to do it.
Keep nesting:
>>> d = {'a': 'xyz'}
>>> ((k,v),) = d.items()
>>> k
'a'
>>> v
'xyz'
Or equivalently:
>>> (k,v), = d.items()
>>> k
'a'
>>> v
'xyz'
>>>
Not sure which I prefer, the last one might be a bit difficult to read if I was glancing at it.
Note, the advantage here is that it is non-destructive and fails if the dict has more than one key-value pair.
Since dict items do not support indexed access, you might resort to the following non-mutating retrieval of the first (and only) item:
k, v = next(iter(d.items()))
This has the advantage of not only working for dicts of any size, but remaining an O(1) operation which other solutions that unpack the items or convert them to a list would not.
If you don't mind the dictionary getting altered, this'll do:
k, v = d.popitem()
