How can I check if a key exists in a dictionary?

If you want to retrieve the key's value if it exists, you can also use

try:
    value = a[key]
except KeyError:
    # Key is not present
    pass

If you want to retrieve a default value when the key does not exist, use value = a.get(key, default_value). If you want to set the default value at the same time in case the key does not exist, use value = a.setdefault(key, default_value).

if key in array:
  # do something

Associative arrays are called dictionaries in Python and you can learn more about them in the stdtypes documentation.