Python Dictionary Sort by Value: A Step-by-Step Guide

Sort a Python Dictionary by Value

Want to order your dictionary items based on their values? This tutorial shows you how using Python's built-in functions and a clear example.

def sort_dictionary_by_value(dictionary):
    sorted_dict = dict(sorted(dictionary.items(), key=lambda item: item[1]))
    return sorted_dict

# Example dictionary
my_dict = {'apple': 5, 'banana': 2, 'orange': 8, 'grapes': 3}

# Sorting the dictionary by value
sorted_dict = sort_dictionary_by_value(my_dict)

# Printing the sorted dictionary
for key, value in sorted_dict.items():
    print(key, value)

Explanation:

1. sort_dictionary_by_value(dictionary) Function:

   • This function takes a dictionary as input.
   • Inside, it uses the sorted() function to sort the dictionary's items (key-value pairs).
   • The key=lambda item: item[1] part is crucial: it tells sorted() to use the second element of each item (which is the value) for sorting.
   • Finally, it converts the sorted list of tuples back into a dictionary using dict() and returns the sorted dictionary.

2. Example Usage:

   • We create a sample dictionary my_dict.
   • We call sort_dictionary_by_value() to get the sorted dictionary.
   • We then loop through the sorted_dict and print each key-value pair.

Key Points:

• Dictionaries themselves are unordered, so this code creates a new sorted dictionary.
• You can modify the my_dict with your own data to test it out.
• This approach is efficient and widely used in Python for sorting dictionaries by values.