gistfile1.pyw

h = {}
w = ['paulo', 'saulo', 'carolina', 'rafael', 'mauro', 'joao', 'abraao']

[[[(h.has_key(c) and not h[c].append(word)) or not h.update({c : [word]})] for c in word] for word in w]


def search(chars):
    s = set([])
    [[s.add(w) for w in [e for e in h.get(char) if e.find(chars) >= 0]] for char in chars]
    return s


print 'people whose name contains au: ', search('au')
print 'people whose name contains aao: ', search('aao')