A modern and fast solution, for Python 3.7. May also work in some interpreters of Python 3.6.
TLDR
To sort a dictionary by keys use:
sorted_dict = {k: disordered[k] for k in sorted(disordered)}
Almost three times faster than the accepted answer; probably more when you include imports.
Comment on the accepted answer
The example in the accepted answer instead of iterating over the keys only - with key
parameter of sorted()
or the default behaviour of dict iteration - iterates over tuples (key, value)
, which suprisingly turns out to be much slower than comparing the keys only and accessing dictionary elements in a list comprehension.
How to sort by key in Python 3.7
The big change in Python 3.7 is that the dictionaries are now ordered by default.
OrderedDict
might still be preferable for the compatibility sake.sorted(d.items())
without key
.See:
disordered = {10: 'b', 3: 'a', 5: 'c'}
# sort keys, then get values from original - fast
sorted_dict = {k: disordered[k] for k in sorted(disordered)}
# key = itemgetter - slower
from operator import itemgetter
key = itemgetter(0)
sorted_dict = {k: v for k, v in sorted(disordered.items(), key=key)}
# key = lambda - the slowest
key = lambda item: item[0]
sorted_dict = {k: v for k in sorted(disordered.items(), key=key)}
Timing results:
Best for {k: d[k] for k in sorted(d)}: 7.507327548999456
Best for {k: v for k, v in sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter)}: 12.031082626002899
Best for {k: v for k, v in sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda)}: 14.22885995300021
Best for dict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter)): 11.209122000000207
Best for dict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda)): 13.289728325995384
Best for dict(sorted(d.items())): 14.231471302999125
Best for OrderedDict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter)): 16.609151654003654
Best for OrderedDict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda)): 18.52622927199991
Best for OrderedDict(sorted(d.items())): 19.436101284998585
Testing code:
from timeit import repeat
setup_code = """
from operator import itemgetter
from collections import OrderedDict
import random
random.seed(0)
d = {i: chr(i) for i in [random.randint(0, 120) for repeat in range(120)]}
key_getter = itemgetter(0)
key_lambda = lambda item: item[0]
"""
cases = [
# fast
'{k: d[k] for k in sorted(d)}',
'{k: v for k, v in sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter)}',
'{k: v for k, v in sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda)}',
# slower
'dict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter))',
'dict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda))',
'dict(sorted(d.items()))',
# the slowest
'OrderedDict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_getter))',
'OrderedDict(sorted(d.items(), key=key_lambda))',
'OrderedDict(sorted(d.items()))',
]
for code in cases:
times = repeat(code, setup=setup_code, repeat=3)
print(f"Best for {code}: {min(times)}")