Sorting distionary by value

[phil hunt]

On Wed, 27 Mar 2002 23:02:20 -0500, Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
>Jim Dennis wrote:
>> 
>>  The core loop is something like:
>> 
>>         freq = {}
>>         for line in file:
>>                 for word in line.split():
>>                         if word in freq:        freq[word] += 1
>>                         else:                           freq[word] = 1
>> 
>>  (assuming Python2.2 for file interation and dictionary membership
>>  support using "in."  I *really* like those 2.2 features!  They make
>>  my psuedo-code so executable!)
>
>Something like   freq[word] = freq.get(word, 0) + 1
>
>would probably be faster, and it's a little simpler I think,
>although I could see an argument that it's less readable.
>Also doesn't depend on 2.2.

IIRC in Awk you can just say:   freq[word] ++ and it works 
correctly even when there is no pre-existing index of word in freq.

IMO it's a pity Python isn't like that.

-- 
<"><"><"> Philip Hunt <philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk> <"><"><">
"I would guess that he really believes whatever is politically 
advantageous for him to believe." 
                        -- Alison Brooks, referring to Michael
                              Portillo, on soc.history.what-if