string = {} string[0] = 'Li' string[1] = 'Cs' string[2] = 'H_' string[3] = 'P-' string[4] = 'CA' string[5] = 'N_' string[6] = 'H_' ptval = {} ptval['H_'] = '001' ptval['He'] = '002' ptval['Li'] = '003' for element in string.iteritems(): if element in ptval.keys(): print ptval[element]