Key of max value in a dict

Question

This gives the max value in a dict, but how do I get the dict key for the max value?

max([d[i] for i in d])

NB `max(d[i] for i in d)` is conceptually simpler (and more memory-efficient) and `max(d.values())` is clearer IMHO. — , Dec 02 '12 at 13:06

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 02 '12 at 13:06

15

max(d, key=lambda k: d[k])

Instead of the lambda you can use operators.itemgetter as well:

import operators
max(d, key=operators.itemgetter(d))

or pass in d.get:

max(d, key=d.get)

answered Dec 02 '12 at 13:06

Martijn Pieters

1

but what if there is multiple keys has the max value? – realhu Dec 08 '16 at 03:50

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '21 at 06:24

Assuming it's safe to use == for comparison in this case, which might not always be true e.g. with floats.

d = { 'a' : 2, 'b' : 2, 'c' : 1}

max_val = max(d.values())
max_keys = [k for k, v in d.items() if v == max_val]

print(max_keys)

gives,

['a', 'b']

[Program finished]

2 Answers2