[python] Delete a dictionary item if the key exists

Is there any other way to delete an item in a dictionary only if the given key exists, other than:

if key in mydict:
    del mydict[key]

The scenario is that I'm given a collection of keys to be removed from a given dictionary, but I am not certain if all of them exist in the dictionary. Just in case I miss a more efficient solution.

Approach: calculate keys to remove, mutate dict

Let's call keys the list/iterator of keys that you are given to remove. I'd do this:

keys_to_remove = set(keys).intersection(set(mydict.keys()))
for key in keys_to_remove:
    del mydict[key]

You calculate up front all the affected items and operate on them.

Approach: calculate keys to keep, make new dict with those keys

I prefer to create a new dictionary over mutating an existing one, so I would probably also consider this:

keys_to_keep = set(mydict.keys()) - set(keys)
new_dict = {k: v for k, v in mydict.iteritems() if k in keys_to_keep}

or:

keys_to_keep = set(mydict.keys()) - set(keys)
new_dict = {k: mydict[k] for k in keys_to_keep}

There is also:

try:
    del mydict[key]
except KeyError:
    pass

This only does 1 lookup instead of 2. However, except clauses are expensive, so if you end up hitting the except clause frequently, this will probably be less efficient than what you already have.