title: access a dictionary value with dynamic path using in python
body: <p>I have this piece of code to extract a value from a dictionary object</p>
  
  <pre><code>extracted_value = response_content["retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse"]["billingSummaries"]["policyBillingSummary"][0]["billingSummary"]["lastPayment"]["status"]
  extracted_value = response_content["retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse"]["billingSummaries"]["policyBillingSummary"][0]["billingSummary"]["bill"]["dueDate"]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>These are just two samples but I have a dozen of these with different key/path combinations. 
  How can I just call these using a module and do something like this </p>
  
  <pre><code>def get_value_from_content (response_content, my_path):
      # how can I use the value in my_path as the key instead of this hard coded path ?
      extracted_value =  response_content["retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse"]["billingSummaries"]["policyBillingSummary"][0]["billingSummary"]["lastPayment"]["status"]
      #extracted_value = response_content using my_path is what I would like to do
      return extracted_value
  
  #I get this from a REST API call but skipping the code here and just hard coding to ask the question here
  response_content = {u'retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse': {u'billingSummaries': {u'policyBillingSummary': [{u'policy': {u'status': u'A', u'policyNumber': u'xyz123', u'writingCompany': u'FBI', u'renewalFlag': u'false', u'convertedRenewalOffer': u'false', u'termExpirationDate': u'2017-06-26', u'lineOfBusiness': u'PC', u'termEffectiveDate': u'2016-06-26', u'riskState': u'CA', u'insureds': {u'namedInsuredSummary': [{u'preferredPostalAddress': {u'streetAddressLine': u'1 disney', u'cityName': u'palo alto', u'zipCode': u'94100', u'isoRegionCode': u'CA'}, u'name': {u'lastName': u'DOE', u'fullName': u'john doe', u'firstName': u'john'}}]}, u'additionalInterests': {u'additionalInterest': [{u'billTo': u'N', u'name': {u'partyType': u'Organization'}}]}, u'type': u'PA', u'statusDescription': u'Active', u'dataSource': u'from_heaven'}, u'billingSummary': {u'paymentRestriction': u'false', u'nextInstallmentAmount': u'0.00', u'bill': {u'installmentNumber': u'1', u'statementDate': u'2016-06-26', u'paymentPlan': u'Direct', u'installmentAmount': u'12.00', u'totalBillAmountDue': u'1.76', u'previousBalance': u'0.00', u'dueDate': u'2016-06-26', u'billingPlan': u'ANN'}, u'lastPayment': {u'status': u'A'}, u'currentBalance': u'16.66', u'payOffAmount': u'15.66', u'isRestrictedToPay': u'false'}}]}}}
  
  my_path = '["retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse"]["billingSummaries"]["policyBillingSummary"][0]["billingSummary"]["lastPayment"]["status"]'
  get_extracted_item = get_value_from_content(response_content,my_path)
  
  my_path = '["retrievePolicyBillingSummariesResponse"]["billingSummaries"]["policyBillingSummary"][0]["billingSummary"]["bill"]["dueDate"]'
  get_extracted_item = get_value_from_content(response_content,my_path)
  </code></pre>