Python Dictionary to URL Parameters

Question

I am trying to convert a Python dictionary to a string for use as URL parameters. I am sure that there is a better, more Pythonic way of doing this. What is it?

x = ""
for key, val in {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}.items():
    x += "%s=%s&" %(key,val)
x = x[:-1]

Answer 1

Use urllib.urlencode(). It takes a dictionary of key-value pairs, and converts it into a form suitable for a URL (e.g., key1=val1&key2=val2).

Answer 2

What you have done is quite ok.

Maybe you can directly use a list comprehension, and use the join method to regroup the terms, separated by a & (no need to remove the last character).

dico = {'a':'A', 'b':'B'}
x = "&".join( "%s=%s"%item for item in dico.items() )

EDIT: the urllib.urlencode will also ensure that are converted in ASCII, that is not done, here. But this is the home-made pythonic way to do it ;-) (no extra library required)

EDIT2: since the question was "how to write this code in a more pythonic way", I believe that my answer is still correct (only one simple list comprehension). Of course, since the urllib.urlencode is doing it, with correct encoding, it's better to use it.