Returns first occurrence of a key in a multidimensional object. If anybody has a more efficient method, tweet at me! @_slinehan

gistfile1.py

# Returns first occurrence of a key in a multidimensional object
# Haystack can either be a dict or a list, but needle must be
# a dict key name or a list of dict key names

# Example:
# deepObject = {
# 	'Sky': {
# 		'Planes': 2.5,
# 		'Rockets': 3.5,
# 		'Missiles': 3.0,
# 		'Jets': [
# 			[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
# 			[6, 7, 8, 9, 10],
# 			{
# 				'Blue': 5,
# 				'Green': 6,
# 				'Purple': 7
# 			}
# 		]
# 	}
# }

# deep_search('Blue', deepObject)
# returns: 5

def deep_search(needles, haystack):
		## Build our return values
		found = {}
		## If we only passed one key, make it a list
		if type(needles) != type([]):
			needles = [needles]

		## Search if haystack is a dictionary
		if type(haystack) == type(dict()):
			## Loop over each needle
			for needle in needles:
				if needle in haystack.keys():
					found[needle] = haystack[needle]
				elif len(haystack.keys()) > 0:
					for key in haystack.keys():
						result = deep_search(needle, haystack[key])
						if result:
							for k, v in result.items():
								found[k] = v
		elif type(haystack) == type([]):
			for node in haystack:
				result = deep_search(needles, node)
				if result:
					for k, v in result.items():
						found[k] = v
		return found