In Python, a dictionary is a collection of keys and their associated values. The keys of a Python dictionary correspond to the words in a paper dictionary; the values of a Python dictionary correspond to the meanings of these words.

Here is an example of a Python program that uses a dictionary to store patient names and IDs:

idlist = {"Smith,Mary":"P12345", "Doe,John":"P12346", "Jones,Charlie":"P12347",
	"Public,John":"P12348", "Dobbs,Cindy":"P12349"}

sortedkeys = idlist.keys()
sortedkeys.sort()
for name in sortedkeys:
	patientid = idlist[name]
	print name, "has patient ID", patientid

For more information on dictionaries, see the following sections: