python sort list of json by value

Question

I have a file consists of JSON, each a line, and want to sort the file by update_time reversed.

sample JSON file:

{ "page": { "url": "url1", "update_time": "1415387875"}, "other_key": {} }
{ "page": { "url": "url2", "update_time": "1415381963"}, "other_key": {} }
{ "page": { "url": "url3", "update_time": "1415384938"}, "other_key": {} }

want output:

{ "page": { "url": "url1", "update_time": "1415387875"}, "other_key": {} }
{ "page": { "url": "url3", "update_time": "1415384938"}, "other_key": {} }
{ "page": { "url": "url2", "update_time": "1415381963"}, "other_key": {} }

my code:

#!/bin/env python
#coding: utf8

import sys
import os
import json
import operator

#load json from file
lines = []
while True:
    line = sys.stdin.readline()
    if not line: break
    line = line.strip()
    json_obj = json.loads(line)
    lines.append(json_obj)

#sort json
lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page']['update_time'], reverse=True)

#output result
for line in lines:
    print line

The code works fine with sample JSON file, but if a JSON has no 'update_time', it will raise KeyError exception. Are there non-exception ways to do this?

Answer 1

Write a function that uses try...except to handle the KeyError, then use this as the key argument instead of your lambda.

def extract_time(json):
    try:
        # Also convert to int since update_time will be string.  When comparing
        # strings, "10" is smaller than "2".
        return int(json['page']['update_time'])
    except KeyError:
        return 0

# lines.sort() is more efficient than lines = lines.sorted()
lines.sort(key=extract_time, reverse=True)

Answer 2

You can use dict.get() with a default value:

lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)

Example:

>>> lines = [
...     {"page": {"url": "url1", "update_time": "1415387875"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url2", "update_time": "1415381963"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url3", "update_time": "1415384938"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url4"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url5"}, "other_key": {}}
... ]
>>> lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)
>>> for line in lines:
...     print line
... 
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url1', 'update_time': '1415387875'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url3', 'update_time': '1415384938'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url2', 'update_time': '1415381963'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url4'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url5'}}

Though, I would still follow the EAFP principle that Ferdinand suggested - this way you would also handle cases when page key is also missing. Much easier to let it fail and handle it than checking all sorts of corner cases.

Answer 3

# sort json
lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)