The sorted() function in python is used to get the sorted list of the specified iterable object. The iterable can be a list, tuple, string, dictionary, set, and frozenset. This function takes three parameters iterable, key, and reverse. The key is used to call a function and the reverse is used to change the sorting order.
Related: list.sort() Function
1 Sorted Function Syntax
Following is the syntax of the sorted() function in Python.
# Syntax
sorted(iterable, key=key, reverse=reverse)
1.1 Parameters of Sorted()
- iterable – Accepts list, tuple, string, dictionary, set, frozenset, or any other iterator that needs to be sorted.
- key – Use with function to get the sorted list by custom order.
- reverse – Default to False. Use reverse=True sorted in descending order.
2. Order Python List using sorted() Function
By default python sorted function orders in ascending order for numbers and alphabetical order for string data types. This function doesn’t order the existing list instead it returns the sorted list. The below example takes the list and input and returns the sorted list.
# List sorted in ascending order
technology = ['Java','Hadoop','Spark','Pandas','Pyspark','NumPy','Hyperion']
print(technology)
sorted_tech = sorted(technology)
print(sorted_tech)
# Output:
# ['Java', 'Hadoop', 'Spark', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'NumPy', 'Hyperion']
# ['Hadoop', 'Hyperion', 'Java', 'NumPy', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'Spark']
3. Order Python Set using sorted() Function
Similarly, the below example takes the set as input and returns the sorted list.
# Set sorted in ascending order
technology = {'Java','Hadoop','Spark','Pandas','Pyspark','NumPy','Hyperion'}
print(technology)
sorted_tech = sorted(technology, reverse=True)
print(sorted_tech)
# Output:
# ['Java', 'Hadoop', 'Spark', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'NumPy', 'Hyperion']
# ['Hadoop', 'Hyperion', 'Java', 'NumPy', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'Spark']
4. Descending Order using sorted()
The sorted() function with reverse=True in Python is used to sort an iterable (such as a list, tuple) in descending order. The function returns a new sorted list, leaving the original sequence unchanged. Here is an example of sorting lists in reverse order using sorted() function.
# List sorted in reverse order
technology = ['Java','Hadoop','Spark','Pandas','Pyspark','NumPy','Hyperion']
print(technology)
sorted_tech = sorted(technology, reverse=True)
print(sorted_tech)
# Output:
# ['Java', 'Hadoop', 'Spark', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'NumPy', 'Hyperion']
# ['Spark', 'Pyspark', 'Pandas', 'NumPy', 'Java', 'Hyperion', 'Hadoop']
5. Order by using Key Param
The Python sorted function takes the optional argument key, that can be used to call a function. In the below example, I am calling the len() to get the length of the string. Here, the list is sorted based on the length of the strings, with the shortest string coming first and the longest string coming last.
Note that the key can also take a user-defined function to sort the elements in the custom order.
# Sort list by length of strings
technology = ['Java','Hadoop','Spark','Pandas','Pyspark','NumPy','Hyperion']
technology.sort(key = len)
print(technology)
# Output
# ['Java', 'Spark', 'NumPy', 'Hadoop', 'Pandas', 'Pyspark', 'Hyperion']
6. Sorted Dictionaries
Finally, passing the dictionary to the sorted() function returns a list with the dictionary key sorted.
# Sort dictionary keys
technology = {"Z":"1","G":"2","A":"3"}
print(technology)
sorted_tech = sorted(technology)
print(sorted_tech)
# Output:
# {'Z': '1', 'G': '2', 'A': '3'}
# ['A', 'G', 'Z']
Conclusion
In this article, you have learned the syntax and examples of using the sorted() function in python. The sorted() function is used to get the sorted list of iterable objects like list, set, dictionary e.t.c. By using this you can perform the sorting in reverse order and even custom sort.
For more examples of functions refer to Python Built-in Functions.
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- How to Sort a List of Tuples in Python
- Python Sort List Descending
- Python Sort Dictionary
- Python Sort Dictionary by Key
- Python Sort Array Values
- Python Sort List in Reverse Order
- Python Sort List of Numbers or Integers
- Python Sort List Alphabetically
- Sort using Lambda in Python
- How to Sort List of Strings in Python
- How to Sort Dictionary by Value in Python
- Sort Set of Values in Python
- Sort List of Dictionaries by Value in Python
