Python sorted()

The sorted() function sorts the elements of a given iterable in a specific order (either ascending or descending).

The syntax of sorted() is:

sorted(iterable, key=None, reverse=False)

sorted() Parameters

sorted() can take a maximum of three parameters:

• iterable - A sequence (string, tuple, list) or collection (set, dictionary, frozen set) or any other iterator.
• reverse (Optional) - If True, the sorted list is reversed (or sorted in descending order). Defaults to False if not provided.
• key (Optional) - A function that serves as a key for the sort comparison. Defaults to None.

Example 1: Sort string, list, and tuple

# vowels list
py_list = ['e', 'a', 'u', 'o', 'i']
print(sorted(py_list))

# string 
py_string = 'Python'
print(sorted(py_string))

# vowels tuple
py_tuple = ('e', 'a', 'u', 'o', 'i')
print(sorted(py_tuple))

Output

['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u']
['P', 'h', 'n', 'o', 't', 'y']
['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u']

Note: A list also has the sort() method which performs the same way as sorted(). The only difference being, the sort() method doesn't return any value and changes the original list.

Example 2: Sort descending order: set, dictionary and frozen set

The sorted() function accepts a reverse parameter as an optional argument.

Setting reverse = True sorts the iterable in the descending order.

# set
py_set = {'e', 'a', 'u', 'o', 'i'}
print(sorted(py_set, reverse = True))

# dictionary
py_dict = {'e': 1, 'a': 2, 'u': 3, 'o': 4, 'i': 5}
print(sorted(py_dict, reverse = True))

# frozen set
frozen_set = frozenset(('e', 'a', 'u', 'o', 'i'))
print(sorted(frozen_set, reverse = True))

Output

['u', 'o', 'i', 'e', 'a']
['u', 'o', 'i', 'e', 'a']
['u', 'o', 'i', 'e', 'a']

key Parameter in Python sorted()

If you want your own implementation for sorting, sorted() also accepts a key function as an optional parameter.

Based on the results of the key function, you can sort the given iterable.

sorted(iterable, key=len)

Here, len() is Python's in-built function to count the length of an object.

The list is sorted based on the length of the element, from the lowest count to highest.

Example 3: Sort the list using sorted() having a key function

# take the second element for sort
def take_second(elem):
    return elem[1]

# random list
random = [(2, 2), (3, 4), (4, 1), (1, 3)]

# sort list with key
sorted_list = sorted(random, key = take_second)

# print list
print('Sorted list:', sorted_list)

Output

Sorted list: [(4, 1), (2, 2), (1, 3), (3, 4)]