Sorting elements within a tuple (getting the highest)

Question

Let's say I have the following tuple (python):

scores = {'player1':200,'player2':300,'player3':150}

The reason I have one tuple and not a list of tuples is so that I can update the scores very easily, i.e.

scores['player1'] += 50

How can I get the player that scored the highest? Or sort the players by their scores:

[player2, player1, player3]

Thanks.

It's not a duplicate if only the `max` is wanted. Sorting's a waste in that case. — Veedrac, Sep 21 '13 at 18:47

Mingyu · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-06T04:48:34.010

You might want to look at the built-in sorted function: http://docs.python.org/2/library/functions.html#sorted

sorted(iterable[, cmp[, key[, reverse]]])

You could specify the item of dictionary as key, and set reverse to True so that you could get a list of scores in descending order.

>>> scores = {'player1':200,'player2':300,'player3':150}
>>> max_score = sorted(scores, key=scores.__getitem__, reverse=True)[0]
>>> max_score
'player2'

As a side note, scores.__getitem__(i) is roughly the same as scores[i].

>>> scores.__getitem__('player1')
200
>>> scores['player1']
200

Sorting elements within a tuple (getting the highest)

1 Answers1