Sorting List of Dictionaries in Descending Order in Python

Sorting is one of the most common things in Python and is used in day-to-day programming. In this article, we will sort the list of dictionaries in descending order in Python.

Sorting The List of Dictionaries In Descending Order

There are different methods to Sort The List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order using Python. Below we are explaining all the possible approaches with proper practical implementation.

• Using the sorted Function with a Lambda Function
• Using the sorted Function with Itemgetter
• Using the sort() method with a Custom Comparator
• Using List Comprehension with Sorted
• Using a Custom Function

Sorting The List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order Using sorted() Method

In this method, we use sorted() function with a lambda function as the key argument to sort the list of dictionaries based on the ‘age’ key in descending order.

Python3

# Using the sorted() Function with a Lambda Function
list_of_dicts = [{'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30}, {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25}, {'name': 'Charlie', 'age': 35}]
sorted_list = sorted(list_of_dicts, key=lambda x: x['age'], reverse=True)

#Display the soted list of dictionaries
print(sorted_list)

Output

[{'name': 'Charlie', 'age': 35}, {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30}, {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25}]

Sorting List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order Using Itemgetter

In this example, we use itemgetter function from the operator module as the key argument in the sorted() function to sort the list of dictionaries based on the ‘age’ key in descending order.

Python3

# Using the sorted() Function with Itemgetter
from operator import itemgetter
list_of_dicts = [{'class': '5', 'section': 3}, {'Class': 'Five', 'section':7}, {'Class': 'Five', 'section': 2}]
sorted_list = sorted(list_of_dicts, key=itemgetter('section'), reverse=True)

#Display the list of dictionaries
print(sorted_list)

Output

[{'Class': 'Five', 'section': 7}, {'class': '5', 'section': 3}, {'Class': 'Five', 'section': 2}]

Sorting List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order Using the sort() Method

In this method, we use sort() method is with a lambda function as the key to sort the list of dictionaries in-place based on the ‘age’ key in descending order.

Python3

# Method 3: Using the sort() Method with a Custom Comparator
list_of_dicts = [{'name': 'tarjan', 'height': 30}, {'name': 'blon', 'height': 89}, {'name': 'starc', 'height': 75}]
list_of_dicts.sort(key=lambda x: x['height'], reverse=True)


#Display the list of dictionaries
print(list_of_dicts)

Output

[{'name': 'blon', 'height': 89}, {'name': 'starc', 'height': 75}, {'name': 'tarjan', 'height': 30}]

Sorting List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order Using List Comprehension

In this method, List comprehension is used along with the sorted() function to create a new sorted list of dictionaries based on the ‘age’ key in descending order.

Python3

# Using List Comprehension with Sorted
list_of_dicts = [{'word': 'Geeks', 'letter': 1}, {'word': 'Geeks', 'letter':3}, {'word': 'for', 'letter': 2}]
sorted_list = [x for x in sorted(list_of_dicts, key=lambda x: x['letter'], reverse=True)]

#Display sorted list
print(sorted_list)

Output

[{'word': 'Geeks', 'letter': 3}, {'word': 'for', 'letter': 2}, {'word': 'Geeks', 'letter': 1}]

Sorting The List Of Dictionaries In Descending Order Using a Custom Function

In this example, a custom sorting function is defined and is used as the key argument in the sorted() function to sort the list of dictionaries based on the ‘age’ key in descending order.

Python3

# Using a Custom Function
def custom_sort(dictionary):
    return dictionary['age']

list_of_dicts = [{'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30}, {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25}, {'name': 'Charlie', 'age': 35}]
sorted_list = sorted(list_of_dicts, key=custom_sort, reverse=True)

#Display sorted list
print(sorted_list)

Output

[{'name': 'Charlie', 'age': 35}, {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30}, {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25}]