Contents of dictionary get mutated.

See more:

Python2.7

Hello Friends,

I have a small function in python. When i pass a dictionary(named 'hand') to the function and return it, the contents of the dictionary get swapped.

def updateHand(hand, word):
return hand

print updateHand({'a':1, 'q':1, 'l':2, 'm':1, 'u':1, 'i':1},"quail")

OUTPUT:
{'a': 1, 'i': 1, 'm': 1, 'l': 2, 'q': 1, 'u': 1} - Dictionary contents swapped

You can see the difference in the output.
Has any one experienced this before?
How can i avoid mutation of the dictionary contents while passing to a function.

Thanks,
Rahul