Ways to sort list of dictionaries by values in Python – Using itemgetter

Previous article of this segment dealt with sorting list of dictionaries by values using lambda function.

Ways to sort list of dictionaries by values in Python – Using lambda function

This article aims at performing this functionality using itemgetter and showing visible differences.

Itemgetter can be used instead of lambda function to achieve the similar functionality. Outputs in same way as sorted() and lambda, but has different internal implementation. It takes keys of dictionaries and converts them into tuples. It reduces overhead and is faster and more efficient. The “operator” module has to be imported for its working. The code is explained below

# Python code demonstrate the working of sorted()
# and itemgetter

# importing "operator" for implementing itemgetter
from operator import itemgetter

# Initializing list of dictionaries
lis = [{ "name" : "Nandini", "age" : 20},
{ "name" : "Manjeet", "age" : 20 },
{ "name" : "Nikhil" , "age" : 19 }]

# using sorted and itemgetter to print list sorted by age
print "The list printed sorting by age: "
print sorted(lis, key=itemgetter('age'))

print ("\r")

# using sorted and itemgetter to print list sorted by both age and name
# notice that "Manjeet" now comes before "Nandini"
print "The list printed sorting by age and name: "
print sorted(lis, key=itemgetter('age', 'name'))

print ("\r")

# using sorted and itemgetter to print list sorted by age in descending order
print "The list printed sorting by age in descending order: "
print sorted(lis, key=itemgetter('age'),reverse = True)

Output:

The list printed sorting by age: 
[{'age': 19, 'name': 'Nikhil'}, {'age': 20, 'name': 'Nandini'}, {'age': 20, 'name': 'Manjeet'}]

The list printed sorting by age and name: 
[{'age': 19, 'name': 'Nikhil'}, {'age': 20, 'name': 'Manjeet'}, {'age': 20, 'name': 'Nandini'}]

The list printed sorting by age in descending order: 
[{'age': 20, 'name': 'Nandini'}, {'age': 20, 'name': 'Manjeet'}, {'age': 19, 'name': 'Nikhil'}]

Advantages of itemgetter over lambda
• Performance : itemgetter performs better than lambda functions in the context of time.
• Concise : : itemgetter looks more concise when accessing multiple values than lambda functions.

itemgetter(1,3,4,5)  ---> Looks more concise
key(s[1], s[2], s[3], s[4]) ---> Looks less concise

This article is contributed by Manjeet Singh. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to contribute@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.

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