Sorting datetime object in a list of tuples

Question

i have a list of tuples which is like following

[('John', datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18)), ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2018, 11, 27, 18, 18), ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2001, 05, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2002, 09, 27, 18, 18)) ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2015, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18))]

How can i sort this list based on the datetime object, basically its in the format Name,From date, To date

So you want the earliest dates first? – Dani Mesejo Jan 08 '19 at 14:44 — Dani Mesejo, Jan 08 '19 at 14:44
That is from date or to date? – Dani Mesejo Jan 08 '19 at 14:47 — Dani Mesejo, Jan 08 '19 at 14:47

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 08 '19 at 14:48

Just use the key parameter of sorted on from_date:

import datetime

data = [('John', datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18)),
        ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2018, 11, 27, 18, 18)),
        ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2001,  5, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2002,  9, 27, 18, 18)),
        ('Adam', datetime.datetime(2015, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18))]


result = sorted(data, key=lambda x: x[1])

for e in result:
    print(e)

Output

('Adam', datetime.datetime(2001, 5, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2002, 9, 27, 18, 18))
('Adam', datetime.datetime(2015, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18))
('John', datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18))
('Adam', datetime.datetime(2017, 11, 27, 18, 18), datetime.datetime(2018, 11, 27, 18, 18))

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 08 '19 at 14:58

I'm not sure if I got the question right. But, I think you're looking for something like this:

sorted(a, key=lambda x: x[1])

Since you can compare DateTime objects with each other, the only thing remaining to do is to ask the sorted function to sort based on them (in this case the second element of each tuple).

Sorting datetime object in a list of tuples

2 Answers2