Sort a list based on dictionary values in python?

Question

Say I have a dictionary and then I have a list that contains the dictionary\'s keys. Is there a way to sort the list based off of the dictionaries values?

I have bee

Answer 1

The key argument in the sorted builtin function (or the sort method of lists) has to be a function that maps members of the list you're sorting to the values you want to sort by. So you want this:

sorted(trial_list, key=lambda x: trial_dict[x])

Answer 2

Yes dict.get is the correct (or at least, the simplest) way:

sorted(trial_list, key=trial_dict.get)

As Mark Amery commented, the equivalent explicit lambda:

sorted(trial_list, key=lambda x: trial_dict[x])

might be better, for at least two reasons:

1. the sort expression is visible and immediately editable
2. it doesn't suppress errors (when the list contains something that is not in the dict).