Python groupby()

Python groupby(): In Python, the itertools.groupby() method allows developers to group values of an iterable class based on a specified property into another iterable set of values. The Python groupby() can be understood by following ways.

Parameter Details

iterable Any python iterable

key Function(criteria) on which to group the iterable

In Python, the itertools.groupby() method allows developers to group values of an iterable class based on a specified property into another iterable set of values. The Python groupby() can be understood by following ways.

Python groupby(): Example 4

In this example we see what happens when we use different types of iterable.

things = [("animal", "bear"), ("animal", "duck"), ("plant", "cactus"), ("vehicle", "harley"), \ ("vehicle", "speed boat"), ("vehicle", "school bus")]
dic = {}
f = lambda x: x[0]
for key, group in groupby(sorted(things, key=f), f):
dic[key] = list(group)
dic

Results in

{'animal': [('animal', 'bear'), ('animal', 'duck')],
'plant': [('plant', 'cactus')],
'vehicle': [('vehicle', 'harley'),
('vehicle', 'speed boat'),
('vehicle', 'school bus')]}

This example below is essentially the same as the one above it. The only difference is that I have changed all the tuples to lists.

things = [["animal", "bear"], ["animal", "duck"], ["vehicle", "harley"], ["plant", "cactus"], \ ["vehicle", "speed boat"], ["vehicle", "school bus"]]
dic = {}
f = lambda x: x[0]
for key, group in groupby(sorted(things, key=f), f):
dic[key] = list(group)
dic

Results

{'animal': [['animal', 'bear'], ['animal', 'duck']],
'plant': [['plant', 'cactus']],
'vehicle': [['vehicle', 'harley'],
['vehicle', 'speed boat'],
['vehicle', 'school bus']]}

Example 2

This example illustrates how the default key is chosen if we do not specify any

c = groupby(['goat', 'dog', 'cow', 1, 1, 2, 3, 11, 10, ('persons', 'man', 'woman')]) dic = {}
for k, v in c:

dic[k] = list(v)
dic

Results in

{1: [1, 1],
2: [2],
3: [3],
('persons', 'man', 'woman'): [('persons', 'man', 'woman')],
'cow': ['cow'],
'dog': ['dog'],
10: [10],
11: [11],
'goat': ['goat']}

Notice here that the tuple as a whole counts as one key in this list

Example 3

Notice in this example that mulato and camel don’t show up in our result. Only the last element with the specified key shows up. The last result for c actually wipes out two previous results. But watch the new version where I have the data sorted first on same key.

list_things = ['goat', 'dog', 'donkey', 'mulato', 'cow', 'cat', ('persons', 'man', 'woman'), \ 'wombat', 'mongoose', 'malloo', 'camel']
c = groupby(list_things, key=lambda x: x[0])
dic = {}
for k, v in c:
dic[k] = list(v)
dic
Results in

{'c': ['camel'],
'd': ['dog', 'donkey'],
'g': ['goat'],
'm': ['mongoose', 'malloo'],
'persons': [('persons', 'man', 'woman')],
'w': ['wombat']}

Sorted Version

list_things = ['goat', 'dog', 'donkey', 'mulato', 'cow', 'cat', ('persons', 'man', 'woman'), \ 'wombat', 'mongoose', 'malloo', 'camel']
sorted_list = sorted(list_things, key = lambda x: x[0])
print(sorted_list)
print()
c = groupby(sorted_list, key=lambda x: x[0])
dic = {}
for k, v in c:
dic[k] = list(v)
dic

Results in

['cow', 'cat', 'camel', 'dog', 'donkey', 'goat', 'mulato', 'mongoose', 'malloo', ('persons', 'man', 'woman'), 'wombat']

{'c': ['cow', 'cat', 'camel'],
'd': ['dog', 'donkey'],
'g': ['goat'],
'm': ['mulato', 'mongoose', 'malloo'],
'persons': [('persons', 'man', 'woman')],
'w': ['wombat']}

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