>>> dict_filter = lambda x, y: dict([ (i,x[i]) for i in x if i in set(y) ]) >>> large_dict = {"a":1,"b":2,"c":3,"d":4} >>> new_dict_keys = ("c","d") >>> small_dict=dict_filter(large_dict, new_dict_keys) >>> print(small_dict) {'c': 3, 'd': 4} >>>