How to implement an ordered, default dict? [duplicate]

Answer 1

The following (using a modified version of this recipe) works for me:

from collections import OrderedDict, Callable

class DefaultOrderedDict(OrderedDict):
    # Source: http://stackoverflow.com/a/6190500/562769
    def __init__(self, default_factory=None, *a, **kw):
        if (default_factory is not None and
           not isinstance(default_factory, Callable)):
            raise TypeError('first argument must be callable')
        OrderedDict.__init__(self, *a, **kw)
        self.default_factory = default_factory

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        try:
            return OrderedDict.__getitem__(self, key)
        except KeyError:
            return self.__missing__(key)

    def __missing__(self, key):
        if self.default_factory is None:
            raise KeyError(key)
        self[key] = value = self.default_factory()
        return value

    def __reduce__(self):
        if self.default_factory is None:
            args = tuple()
        else:
            args = self.default_factory,
        return type(self), args, None, None, self.items()

    def copy(self):
        return self.__copy__()

    def __copy__(self):
        return type(self)(self.default_factory, self)

    def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
        import copy
        return type(self)(self.default_factory,
                          copy.deepcopy(self.items()))

    def __repr__(self):
        return 'OrderedDefaultDict(%s, %s)' % (self.default_factory,
                                               OrderedDict.__repr__(self))

Answer 2

Inspired by other answers on this thread, you can use something like,

from collections import OrderedDict

class OrderedDefaultDict(OrderedDict):
    def __missing__(self, key):
        value = OrderedDefaultDict()
        self[key] = value
        return value

I would like to know if there're any downsides of initializing another object of the same class in the missing method.

Answer 3

A simpler version of @zeekay 's answer is:

from collections import OrderedDict

class OrderedDefaultListDict(OrderedDict): #name according to default
    def __missing__(self, key):
        self[key] = value = [] #change to whatever default you want
        return value

Answer 4

If you want a simple solution that doesn't require a class, you can just use OrderedDict.setdefault(key, default=None) or OrderedDict.get(key, default=None). If you only get / set from a few places, say in a loop, you can easily just setdefault.

totals = collections.OrderedDict()

for i, x in some_generator():
    totals[i] = totals.get(i, 0) + x

It is even easier for lists with setdefault:

agglomerate = collections.OrderedDict()

for i, x in some_generator():
    agglomerate.setdefault(i, []).append(x)

But if you use it more than a few times, it is probably better to set up a class, like in the other answers.

Answer 5

i tested the default dict and discovered it's also sorted! maybe it was just a coincidence but anyway you can use the sorted function:

sorted(s.items())

i think it's simpler

Answer 6

A simple and elegant solution building on @NickBread. Has a slightly different API to set the factory, but good defaults are always nice to have.

class OrderedDefaultDict(OrderedDict):
    factory = list

    def __missing__(self, key):
        self[key] = value = self.factory()
        return value