Produce sorted nested dictionary with JSON as input

Question

This is the payload

     payload = '''
{
    "glossary": {
        "title": "example glossary",
        "GlossDiv": {
            "title": "S",
            "GlossList": [
                {
                    "ID": "ABCD",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": ["GML", "XML"]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "SGML",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": ["GML", "XML"]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "PQRS",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": ["GML", "XML"]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "ABRA",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": ["GML", "XML"]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

'''

Take this json string above as input and print the output JSON in which the GlossList is sorted (sorted by ID).

Hey, that's not a correct json. can you give the exact json string — rawwar, Jul 21 '18 at 14:23
@Rhaman, as InAFlash says, the `JSON` you have provided is not correct. Would you mind making sure you provide a valid `JSON`. — lmiguelvargasf, Jul 21 '18 at 14:26
Possible duplicate of [JSON output sorting in Python](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2774361/json-output-sorting-in-python) — Pouya Danesh, Jul 21 '18 at 14:28
What have you tried to reach your goal so far? Please see [how to ask](https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask) — ArSeN, Jul 21 '18 at 14:28
@InAFlash, I took the provided string, and I validated using a JSON validator, and it seems the problem is in `"GlossSee": "markup"},` that `,` should note be there. — lmiguelvargasf, Jul 21 '18 at 14:52

lmiguelvargasf · Answer 1 · 2018-07-21T15:11:11.287

First, the JSON you have provided is not valid. I have edited your answer providing a valid one.

Answering your question:

you have to convert your string to dictionary using ast.literal_eval().
you can apply:

2.1 sorted function, if so, then you have to construct your original dictionary, but this time sorted.

2.2 sort method

Applying sorted function

payload = ast.literal_eval(json_string)
sub_order_dict = sorted(payload["glossary"]["GlossDiv"]["GlossList"], key=lambda x: x["ID"])
d = {'glossary': {'title': 'example glossary',
     'GlossDiv': {'title': 'S',
           'GlossList': sub_order_dit}}}

Appying sort method

payload = ast.literal_eval(json_string)
payload["glossary"]["GlossDiv"]["GlossList"].sort(key=lambda x: x["ID"])

For both cases, the output of payloadis:

{'glossary': {'title': 'example glossary',
  'GlossDiv': {'title': 'S',
   'GlossList': [{'ID': 'ABCD',
     'SortAs': 'SGML',
     'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
     'Acronym': 'SGML',
     'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
     'GlossDef': {'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.',
      'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML']},
     'GlossSee': 'markup'},
    {'ID': 'ABRA',
     'SortAs': 'SGML',
     'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
     'Acronym': 'SGML',
     'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
     'GlossDef': {'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.',
      'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML']},
     'GlossSee': 'markup'},
    {'ID': 'PQRS',
     'SortAs': 'SGML',
     'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
     'Acronym': 'SGML',
     'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
     'GlossDef': {'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.',
      'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML']},
     'GlossSee': 'markup'},
    {'ID': 'SGML',
     'SortAs': 'SGML',
     'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
     'Acronym': 'SGML',
     'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
     'GlossDef': {'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.',
      'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML']},
     'GlossSee': 'markup'}]}}}

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 21 '18 at 14:30

If you just need the GlossList sorted try using sorted with lambda in key

Ex:

print( sorted(payload["glossary"]["GlossDiv"]["GlossList"], key=lambda x: x["ID"]) )

Output:

[{'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
  'Acronym': 'SGML',
  'GlossDef': {'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML'],
               'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.'},
  'GlossSee': 'markup',
  'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
  'ID': 'ABCD',
  'SortAs': 'SGML'},
 {'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
  'Acronym': 'SGML',
  'GlossDef': {'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML'],
               'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.'},
  'GlossSee': 'markup',
  'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
  'ID': 'ABRA',
  'SortAs': 'SGML'},
 {'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
  'Acronym': 'SGML',
  'GlossDef': {'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML'],
               'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.'},
  'GlossSee': 'markup',
  'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
  'ID': 'PQRS',
  'SortAs': 'SGML'},
 {'Abbrev': 'ISO 8879:1986',
  'Acronym': 'SGML',
  'GlossDef': {'GlossSeeAlso': ['GML', 'XML'],
               'para': 'A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.'},
  'GlossSee': 'markup',
  'GlossTerm': 'Standard Generalized Markup Language',
  'ID': 'SGML',
  'SortAs': 'SGML'}]

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 21 '18 at 14:46

>>> import json
>>> d = json.loads(payload)
>>> d['glossary']['GlossDiv']['GlossList'].sort(key=lambda x: x['ID'])
>>> print (json.dumps(d, indent=4))

Output

{
    "glossary": {
        "title": "example glossary",
        "GlossDiv": {
            "title": "S",
            "GlossList": [
                {
                    "ID": "ABCD",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": [
                            "GML",
                            "XML"
                        ]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "ABRA",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": [
                            "GML",
                            "XML"
                        ]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "PQRS",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": [
                            "GML",
                            "XML"
                        ]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                },
                {
                    "ID": "SGML",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": [
                            "GML",
                            "XML"
                        ]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Produce sorted nested dictionary with JSON as input

3 Answers3