How do you sort a list of tuples by the first element in each tuple in Python?
To sort a list of tuples in Python use the
.sort()
list method if you want to modify the list to sort or the
sorted()
function if you want to generate a new list.
Use the parameter
key
with either function and set the value of that parameter to a
lambda
expression that returns the required tuple you want to sort by.
For example, here is a list of tuples using the
.sort()
list method:
>>> my_list = [(10, 1), (5, 100), (3, 10)]
>>> my_list.sort(key=lambda x: x[0])
>>> print(my_list)
[(3, 10), (5, 100), (10, 1)]
As you can see from the above code the
.sort()
list method mutates the original
my_list
variable by sorting all the tuples in order according to their
first element
.
Notice also the sorting is done in ascending order. If you need to change the order to be descending then, as these are numbers, insert a negative sign in the
lambda
function for the element being referenced.
Here’s an example sorting a list of tuples in descending order using the first element of each tuple:
>>> my_list = [(10, 1), (5, 100), (3, 10)]
>>> my_list.sort(key=lambda x: -x[0])
>>> print(my_list)
[(10, 1), (5, 100), (3, 10)]As you can see from the results of this code the first element in each tuple is now in descending order.
Sort By Second Element?
What if you need to sort by each tuple’s second element, instead of the first?
This is simply changed by editing the reference value in the lambda function. Currently in the lambda function the value
x
represents each tuple in the list and
x[0]
references the
first value
in the tuple.
To sort by the
second element
simply change the reference from
x[0]
to
x[1]
.
Here’s an example demonstrating the change:
>>> my_list = [(10, 1), (5, 100), (3, 10)]
>>> my_list.sort(key=lambda x: x[1])
>>> print(my_list)
[(10, 1), (3, 10), (5, 100)]As you can see from the above code the order of the tuples in the list is now set in order according to the second element in each tuple.
Summary
Sorting a list of tuples in Python by their
first element
is an easy task that can easily be accomplished using the
.sort()
list method or the
sorted()
function with the
key
parameter set to a lambda function:
lambda x: x[0]
.
