Python 3.7+ or CPython 3.6
Dicts preserve insertion order in Python 3.7+. Same in CPython 3.6, but it's an implementation detail.
>>> x = {1: 2, 3: 4, 4: 3, 2: 1, 0: 0}
>>> {k: v for k, v in sorted(x.items(), key=lambda item: item[1])}
{0: 0, 2: 1, 1: 2, 4: 3, 3: 4}
or
>>> dict(sorted(x.items(), key=lambda item: item[1]))
{0: 0, 2: 1, 1: 2, 4: 3, 3: 4}
Older Python
It is not possible to sort a dictionary, only to get a representation of a dictionary that is sorted. Dictionaries are inherently orderless, but other types, such as lists and tuples, are not. So you need an ordered data type to represent sorted values, which will be a list—probably a list of tuples.
For instance,
import operator
x = {1: 2, 3: 4, 4: 3, 2: 1, 0: 0}
sorted_x = sorted(x.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(1))
sorted_x
will be a list of tuples sorted by the second element in each tuple. dict(sorted_x) == x
.
And for those wishing to sort on keys instead of values:
import operator
x = {1: 2, 3: 4, 4: 3, 2: 1, 0: 0}
sorted_x = sorted(x.items(), key=operator.itemgetter(0))
In Python3 since unpacking is not allowed we can use
x = {1: 2, 3: 4, 4: 3, 2: 1, 0: 0}
sorted_x = sorted(x.items(), key=lambda kv: kv[1])
If you want the output as a dict, you can use collections.OrderedDict
:
import collections
sorted_dict = collections.OrderedDict(sorted_x)
You create a new key/value pair on a dictionary by assigning a value to that key
d = {'key': 'value'}
print(d) # {'key': 'value'}
d['mynewkey'] = 'mynewvalue'
print(d) # {'key': 'value', 'mynewkey': 'mynewvalue'}
If the key doesn't exist, it's added and points to that value. If it exists, the current value it points to is overwritten.
Best Solution
No. The initialization syntax for
Dictionary<TKey,TValue>
is C# syntax candy. Powershell has its own initializer syntax support forSystem.Collections.HashTable
(@{}
):For [probably] nearly all cases it will work just as well as
Dictionary<TKey,TValue>
. If you really needDictionary<TKey,TValue>
for some reason, you could make a function that takes aHashTable
and iterates through the keys and values to add them to a newDictionary<TKey,TValue>
.The C# initializer syntax isn't exactly "direct" anyway. The compiler generates calls to
Add()
from it.