How to create a dictionary from a certain string?

Question

Python

total = "messages=456?time=05:12:56"

How to get such a dictionary from the total string :

{
  "messages": "456",
  "time": "05:12:56"
}

In addition, so that it is independent of the line:

"messages=456?time=05:12:56?author=you" -> {"messages": "456", "time": "05:12:56", "author": "you"}

Answer 1

dict(n.split('=') for n in string.split('?'))