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Python Functional Python Functional Workhorses Sorting

James N
James N
17,864 Points
Posted by James N
James N
17,864 Points

I am completely stumped (and it's saying task 1 isn't passing)

I don't get this codechallenge. i am on task 2, and i (yes, i'm dumb) don't at all get what itemgetter does and how to use it. i know i have to sort by the 2nd item in each tuple (the number) but i don't know how to tell itemgetter to go and get it!

i used a slice for the first, (to select all the tuples), and within the tuples, used the 2nd brackets to select the number in the tuple.

But, even so, i don't get it!

Thanks in advance, James.

sorting.py 
from operator import itemgetter

fruit_list = [
    ('apple', 2),
    ('banana', 5),
    ('coconut', 1),
    ('durian', 3),
    ('elderberries', 4)
]

sorted_fruit = sorted(fruit_list, key=itemgetter(fruit_list[0:][2]))

1 Answer

Kourosh Raeen
Kourosh Raeen
23,733 Points
Kourosh Raeen
Kourosh Raeen
23,733 Points

Just pass 1, the index of the second item in each tuple, to itemgetter:

from operator import itemgetter

fruit_list = [
    ('apple', 2),
    ('banana', 5),
    ('coconut', 1),
    ('durian', 3),
    ('elderberries', 4)
]

sorted_fruit = sorted(fruit_list, key=itemgetter(1))
James N
James N
17,864 Points
James N
James N
17,864 Points

Thing is, i couldn't think of what to pass into itemgetter. i don't 100% get how that would work. i'll still try it, but could you (or someone else on the world of the net) explain the logic of this?

James N
James N
17,864 Points
James N
James N
17,864 Points

UPDATE: Thanks for your help! just tried it now, and it works!

However, i would still like someone to explain the logic of this, thanks.