return key of minimum value

Question

I want to return the key of the minimum value in a dictionary in Python. The value of key, value pair will have several numbers, i.e. dict[current] = (total, gone, heuristic). How can I return the key of minimum gone value?

Does this answer your question? [Get the key corresponding to the minimum value within a dictionary](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3282823/get-the-key-corresponding-to-the-minimum-value-within-a-dictionary) — Stuart, Feb 09 '20 at 06:07

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '20 at 06:10

6

Use min with a lambda lookup function:

min(d, key=lambda k: d[k][1])

answered Feb 09 '20 at 06:10

Stuart

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Can we use `itemgetter` here? – LordOfThunder Feb 09 '20 at 06:31
I dont why, this returns 'dict' object is not callable – Ayesha Oct 10 '22 at 00:26
@Ayesha are you using round brackets instead of square ones? – Stuart Oct 10 '22 at 09:55

mattyx17 · Answer 2 · 2022-10-19T13:55:28.567

0

you can iterate through the dictionary

best = None
for key, t in d.items():
    if best is None or t[1] < d[best][1]:
        best = key
return best

edited Oct 19 '22 at 13:55

answered Feb 09 '20 at 06:06

mattyx17

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think it should be `tuple[1] < dict[best]` – Stuart Feb 09 '20 at 06:16
@Stuart yes you are right! Thank you – mattyx17 Feb 09 '20 at 06:25
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`dict`, `tuple` are keywords, use `d` and `t` instead. – LordOfThunder Feb 09 '20 at 06:31
I am getting IndexError: invalid index to scalar variable. – Ayesha Oct 10 '22 at 00:40
Sorry had a typo. Basically `best` keeps track of the best key seen. Then for each tuple compare its gone value (the value at index 1) to the gone value of the best and if it is better then update `best` – mattyx17 Oct 19 '22 at 13:57

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 09 '20 at 06:26

Simply, iterate through the dictionary:

d = {1: (1,2,3), 2: (2,4,5), 4: (5,0,2)}
best = None
mn = 99999999 # if you have values more than this, then use float('inf') instead
for k in d:
    if mn > d[k][1]:
        mn = d[k][1]
        best = k 
print(best)
# Output: 4

return key of minimum value

3 Answers3