Python: How to check if keys exists and retrieve value from Dictionary in descending priority

One option if the number of keys is small is to use chained gets:

value = myDict.get('lastName', myDict.get('firstName', myDict.get('userName')))

But if you have keySet defined, this might be clearer:

value = None
for key in keySet:
    if key in myDict:
        value = myDict[key]
        break

The chained gets do not short-circuit, so all keys will be checked but only one used. If you have enough possible keys that that matters, use the for loop.

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