Python: sort an array of dictionaries with custom comparator?

Question

I have the following Python array of dictionaries:

myarr = [ { \'name\': \'Richard\', \'rank\': 1 },
{ \'name\': \'Reuben\', \'rank\': 4 },
{ \'name\': \'Reece\'         


        

Answer 1

Just give pass to "key" an arbitrary function or callable object - it is what it takes. itemgetter happens to be one such function -- but it can work with any function you write - it just has to take a single parameter as input, and return an object that is directly compable to achieve the order you want.

In this case:

def key_func(item):
   return item["rank"] if item["rank"] != 0 else -100000

sorted_master_list = sorted(myarr, key=key_func)

(it can also be written as a lambda expression)