Get dict key by max value

Question

I’m trying to get the dict key whose value is the maximum of all the dict’s values.

I found two ways, both not elegant enough.

d= {'a':2,'b':5,'c':3}
# 1st way
print [k for k in d.keys() if d[k] == max(d.values())][0]
# 2nd way
print Counter(d).most_common(1)[0][0]

Is there a better approach?

Asked By: mclafee

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Answer 1

Use the key parameter to max():

max(d, key=d.get)

Demo:

>>> d= {'a':2,'b':5,'c':3}
>>> max(d, key=d.get)
'b'

The key parameter takes a function, and for each entry in the iterable, it’ll find the one for which the key function returns the highest value.

Question: