How to sort a Python dict's keys by value

Question

I have a dict that looks like this

{ \"keyword1\":3 , \"keyword2\":1 , \"keyword3\":5 , \"keyword4\":2 }

And I would like to convert it DESC and

Answer 1

You could use

res = list(sorted(theDict, key=theDict.__getitem__, reverse=True))

(You don't need the list in Python 2.x)

The theDict.__getitem__ is actually equivalent to lambda x: theDict[x].

(A lambda is just an anonymous function. For example

>>> g = lambda x: x + 5
>>> g(123)
128

This is equivalent to

>>> def h(x):
...   return x + 5
>>> h(123)
128

)