Try this: >>> dict(user='root', password='secret') {'password': 'secret', 'user': 'root'} >>> "marry had a little lamb".split() ['marry', 'had', 'a', 'littl

Try this: >>> dict(user='root', password='secret') {'password': 'secret', 'user': 'root'} >>> "marry had a little lamb".split() ['marry', 'had', 'a', 'little', 'lamb']