Get and set values by passing in a multilevel key, a data dictionary, and in case of setting also a value

get_set_value_by_multilevel_key.py

def get_value_by_multilevel_key(key, data):
    """
    returns a value by a multilevel key reference e.g. 'object.foo.bar' as key returns the value 10
    (see below)
    {
        object: {
            foo:
                bar: 10
            }
        }
    }
    :param key:
    :param data:
    :return:
    """
    key = key.split(".")
    reference = None
    for item in key:
        try:
            if reference is not None:
                reference = reference[item]
            else:
                reference = data[item]
        except (AttributeError, KeyError):
            return None
    return reference


def set_value_by_multilevel_key(key, data, value):
    """
    Sets the value of a multilevel key reference in the data object
    :param key:
    :param data:
    :param value:
    :return:
    """

    # Making sure that a single level key doesn't destroy the logic and also
    # does what one would expect
    if len(key.split(".")) == 1:
        data[key] = value
        return data

    head, tail = key.rsplit(".", 1)
    get_value_by_multilevel_key(head, data)[tail] = value
    return data