Python - How to sort both key and value alphabetically

Question

I have a dictionary like this:

d = {
   'yellow': ['C','A','F'], 
   'blue': ['D','A'],
   'brown': ['G','Z'],
   'red': ['F','T'],
   'green': ['Z','A']
}

I'm trying to get output like this:

{
    'blue': ['A','D'],
    'brown': ['G','Z'],
    'green': ['A','Z']}
    'red': ['F','T'],
    'yellow': ['A','C','F']
}

I'm trying to sort key and value alphabetically. I've tried using modules to do this, but how to do it without using modules?

Keys in dictionary don't have any order. Can you please elaborate for what purpose you need the output? You want to save this output to a file or you just want to print output like this in console? — Amit Vikram Singh, Apr 06 '21 at 08:36
@FMc Oh, I was not aware of that. If we are not using OrderedDict then what is the order of keys in a dictionary? — Amit Vikram Singh, Apr 06 '21 at 08:38
@FMc in Python 3.7 and up (from 3.5 as a CPython implementation detail) they do preserve insertion order, but they're still not _semantically_ ordered data structures (you can't ask for the "first" or "last" item and order doesn't matter in comparisons, for example, unlike with `OrderedDict`s). — jonrsharpe, Apr 06 '21 at 08:38
@jonrsharpe Fair point, but perhaps not a binding distinction here. — FMc, Apr 06 '21 at 08:40
@jonrsharpe If normal dictionary preserves insertion order then OrderedDict is obsolete in python 3.7+? — Amit Vikram Singh, Apr 06 '21 at 08:42
@AmitVikramSingh no; again, a vanilla dictionary is still not *semantically* ordered. `dict(a=1, b=2) == dict(b=2, a=1)` whereas `OrderedDict(a=1, b=2) != OrderedDict(b=2, a=1)`, for example, and there are two methods from [`OrderedDict`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/collections.html#collections.OrderedDict) (`popitem` and `move_to_end`) vanilla dictionaries don't have. — jonrsharpe, Apr 06 '21 at 08:44

atin · Answer 1 · 2021-04-06T08:52:42.800

3

>>> d = {'yellow': ['C','A','F'],
...  'blue': ['D','A'],
...  'brown': ['G','Z'],
...  'red': ['F','T'],
...  'green': ['Z','A']}
>>>
>>> {key: sorted(val) for key, val in sorted(d.items())}
{'blue': ['A', 'D'], 'brown': ['G', 'Z'], 'green': ['A', 'Z'], 'red': ['F', 'T'], 'yellow': ['A', 'C', 'F']}

edited Apr 06 '21 at 08:52

answered Apr 06 '21 at 08:40

atin

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timgeb · Answer 2 · 2021-04-06T08:51:13.720

3

You'll need Python 3.7+ for dicts to remember their key insertion order. Then you can use:

dict(sorted((k, sorted(v)) for k, v in d.items()))

edit: I also like this one.

{k: sorted(d[k]) for k in sorted(d)}

edited Apr 06 '21 at 08:51

answered Apr 06 '21 at 08:40

timgeb

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So we don't need to use OrderedDict in python3.7+ for preserving the insertion order? – Amit Vikram Singh Apr 06 '21 at 08:43
1

@AmitVikramSingh [correct](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39980323/are-dictionaries-ordered-in-python-3-6), but there are still differences between regular and ordered dicts (see the link). – timgeb Apr 06 '21 at 08:44

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '21 at 08:40

try this code:

data = {'yellow': ['C', 'A', 'F'],
    'blue': ['D', 'A'],
    'brown': ['G', 'Z'],
    'red': ['F', 'T'],
    'green': ['Z', 'A']}

res = {} # New Sorted Dict
sorted_keys = sorted(data.keys()) # sorted keys

for key in sorted_keys:
    res[key] = sorted(data.get(key)) # Sorted values For key
print(res)

Python - How to sort both key and value alphabetically

3 Answers3