how to sort nested dictionary python?

Question

i have the following nested dictionary:

{'switch3': {'ip': '192.160.1.2', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch2': {'ip': '192.160.1.8', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch4': {'ip': '192.160.1.3', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch1': {'ip': '192.160.1.4', 'hostname': 'test-1'}}

and i want to sort by switch, and get this :

{'switch1': {'ip': '192.160.1.4', 'hostname': 'test-1'} 
'switch2': {'ip': '192.160.1.8', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch3': {'ip': '192.160.1.2', 'hostname': 'test-1'},
'switch4': {'ip': '192.160.1.3', 'hostname': 'test-1'}}

is this possible ?

Dictionaries are unordered, so you cannot **sort** dictionaries. You can convert them into a (sorted) list... — Willem Van Onsem, Feb 07 '17 at 12:18
Dictionaries are not ordered (prior to CPython 3.6), apply `sorted()` then pass to `OrderedDict` — Chris_Rands, Feb 07 '17 at 12:18
`OrderedDict` is still the correct collection in Python 3.6; don’t rely on implementation. — Ry-, Feb 07 '17 at 12:19
Why do you want to sort it? Just to print it in a nice order, or for some other reason? — Ry-, Feb 07 '17 at 12:20
Possible duplicate of [How can I sort a dictionary by key?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9001509/how-can-i-sort-a-dictionary-by-key) — Chris_Rands, Feb 07 '17 at 12:20

omri_saadon · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-07T12:53:17.290

1

Keep in mind that dicts in python are unordered list, You can use the OrderedDict that remember the order of the items.

The following code does seem to sort the dict (only for print), but it's not actually sort it, you should use OrderedDict.

mydict = {'switch3': {'ip': '192.160.1.2', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch2': {'ip': '192.160.1.8', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch4': {'ip': '192.160.1.3', 'hostname': 'test-1'}, 
'switch1': {'ip': '192.160.1.4', 'hostname': 'test-1'}}

sorted_x = sorted(mydict.items())

edited Feb 07 '17 at 12:53

answered Feb 07 '17 at 12:20

omri_saadon

10,193
7
33
58

Nice; `key=lambda p: p[0]` is shorter and about as descriptive, though. – Ry- Feb 07 '17 at 12:21
@Ryan `operator.itemgetter` is faster. Anyway, neither is needed here, `sorted()` without a key works! See the duplicate – Chris_Rands Feb 07 '17 at 12:22
@Ryan , well.. it is shorter ;) – omri_saadon Feb 07 '17 at 12:23
@Chris_Rands , I've read the duplicate link, it does seem that you're right, fixed it. Thanks for noticing. – omri_saadon Feb 07 '17 at 12:25
@omri_saadon Given it's a duplicate, just mark it as one, and move on – Chris_Rands Feb 07 '17 at 12:30

how to sort nested dictionary python?

1 Answers1