flatten embedded children dictionaries in python

falt_dict.py

# coding: utf-8

# In[31]:

dict_list = [
    {'id': 1, 'key1': 'abc'},
    {'id': 2, 'key1': 'def', 'key2': 123},
    {'id': 3, 'key1': 'ghi', 'key2': 456, 'children': [
        {'id': 4, 'key1': 'jkl'},
        {'id': 5, 'key1': 'mno', 'children': [ 
            {'id': 6, 'key2': 789}            
        ]}
    ]}, 
    {'id': 7, 'key1': 'xyz', 'key2': 5893}
]


# In[34]:

def removekey(d, key, deepth):
    r = dict(d)
    if key in d: del r[key]
    r['deepth'] = deepth    
    return r

def flat_dict(j, child_key, deepth=0):
    l = []
    for i in j:
        l += [removekey(i, child_key, deepth)]
        if child_key in i:
            l += flat_dict(i[child_key], child_key, deepth = deepth + 1)
    return l


# In[35]:

print(flat_dict(dict_list, "children"))


# In[ ]:

_ = '''
[{'deepth': 0, 'id': 1, 'key1': 'abc'},
 {'deepth': 0, 'id': 2, 'key1': 'def', 'key2': 123},
 {'deepth': 0, 'id': 3, 'key1': 'ghi', 'key2': 456},
 {'deepth': 1, 'id': 4, 'key1': 'jkl'},
 {'deepth': 1, 'id': 5, 'key1': 'mno'},
 {'deepth': 2, 'id': 6, 'key2': 789},
 {'deepth': 0, 'id': 7, 'key1': 'xyz', 'key2': 5893}]
 '''