Randomly shuffling a dictionary in Python

Question:

Well, the thing is, I had the need to use dictionaries in python, but I realized i couldn’t randomly shuffle them. I have to randomly shuffle it, and assign the values to the same dictionary. Any help would be appreciated.

import random
i = 1
name = ""
helper = []
number_of_com = 0
win_0 = []
win_1 = []
win_2 = []
win_3 = []
win_4 = []
win_5 = []
win_6 = []
win_7 = []
win_8 = []
win_9 = []
win_10 = []
print ("Welcome to the Swiss Round Calculator. This project was made by Enes Kristo")
number_of_com = int(input("Please enter the number of the competitors:n"))
if number_of_com <= 16:
    loop = 3
elif number_of_com <= 32:
    loop = 4
elif number_of_com <= 64:
    loop = 5
elif number_of_com <= 128:
    loop = 6
elif number_of_com <= 256:
    loop = 7
elif number_of_com <= 512:
    loop = 8
elif number_of_com <= 1024:
    loop = 9
else:
    loop = 10
while i <= number_of_com:
    name = str(input("Name of competitor nr."+str(i)+":n"))
    helper.append([name, 0, 0])
    i += 1
def odd():
    b = 0
    while b <= (number_of_com - 2):
        helper_1 = helper[b]
        b += 1
        helper_2 = helper[b]
        print ("Player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " is vs player " + str(helper_2[0]) + ".")
        b += 1
    helper_3 = helper[(number_of_com-1)]
    print (str(helper_3[0])+" gets a free win.")
    helper_3[1] += 1
    helper[(number_of_com-1)] = helper_3
    b = 0
    while b <= (number_of_com - 2):
        helper_1 = helper[b]
        b += 1
        helper_2 = helper[b]
        print("In the match between player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " and player " +str(helper_2[0]) + " who won?")
        a = int(input("Enter 1 if player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " won or 2 if player " + str(helper_2[0]) + " won.n"))
        if a == 1 or a == 2:
            if a == 1:
                helper_1[1] += 1
                helper_2[2] += 1
                b -= 1
                helper[b] = helper_1
                b += 1
                helper[b] = helper_2
            else:
                helper_1[2] += 1
                helper_2[1] += 1
                b -= 1
                helper[b] = helper_1
                b += 1
                helper[b] = helper_2
        else:
            print("Enter a correct number.")
            b -= 1
            continue
        b += 1
    random.shuffle(helper)
    v = 0
    while v < number_of_com:
        helper_1 = helper[v]
        if helper_1[1] == 0:
            win_0.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 1:
            win_1.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 2:
            win_2.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 3:
            win_3.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 4:
            win_4.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 5:
            win_5.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 6:
            win_6.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 7:
            win_7.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 8:
            win_8.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 9:
            win_9.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 10:
            win_10.append(helper_1)
        v += 1
    random.shuffle(win_0)
    random.shuffle(win_1)
    random.shuffle(win_2)
    random.shuffle(win_3)
    random.shuffle(win_4)
    random.shuffle(win_5)
    random.shuffle(win_6)
    random.shuffle(win_7)
    random.shuffle(win_8)
    random.shuffle(win_9)
    random.shuffle(win_10)
    while len(helper) > 0:
        helper.pop()
    helper.append(win_10)
    helper.append(win_9)
    helper.append(win_8)
    helper.append(win_7)
    helper.append(win_6)
    helper.append(win_5)
    helper.append(win_4)
    helper.append(win_3)
    helper.append(win_2)
    helper.append(win_1)
    helper.append(win_0)
def even():
    b = 0
    while b <= (number_of_com - 2):
        helper_1 = helper[b]
        b += 1
        helper_2 = helper[b]
        print ("Player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " is vs player " +str(helper_2[0]) + ".")
        b += 1
    b = 0
    while b <= (number_of_com - 2):
        helper_1 = helper[b]
        b += 1
        helper_2 = helper[b]
        print("In the match between player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " and player " +str(helper_2[0]) + " who won?")
        a = int(input("Enter 1 if player " + str(helper_1[0]) + " won or 2 if player " + str(helper_2[0]) + " won."))
        if a == 1 or a == 2:
            if a == 1:
                helper_1[1] += 1
                helper_2[2] += 1
                b -= 1
                helper[b] = helper_1
                b += 1
                helper[b] = helper_2
            else:
                helper_1[2] += 1
                helper_2[1] += 1
                b -= 1
                helper[b] = helper_1
                b += 1
                helper[b] = helper_2
        else:
            print("Enter a correct number.")
            b -= 1
            continue
        b += 1
        random.shuffle(helper)
        v = 0
    while v < number_of_com:
        helper_1 = helper[v]
        if helper_1[1] == 0:
            win_0.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 1:
            win_1.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 2:
            win_2.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 3:
            win_3.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 4:
            win_4.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 5:
            win_5.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 6:
            win_6.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 7:
            win_7.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 8:
            win_8.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 9:
            win_9.append(helper_1)
        elif helper_1[1] == 10:
            win_10.append(helper_1)
        v += 1
    random.shuffle(win_0)
    random.shuffle(win_1)
    random.shuffle(win_2)
    random.shuffle(win_3)
    random.shuffle(win_4)
    random.shuffle(win_5)
    random.shuffle(win_6)
    random.shuffle(win_7)
    random.shuffle(win_8)
    random.shuffle(win_9)
    random.shuffle(win_10)
    while len(helper) > 0:
        helper.pop()
    helper.append(win_10)
    helper.append(win_9)
    helper.append(win_8)
    helper.append(win_7)
    helper.append(win_6)
    helper.append(win_5)
    helper.append(win_4)
    helper.append(win_3)
    helper.append(win_2)
    helper.append(win_1)
    helper.append(win_0)
if number_of_com % 2 == 0:
    c = 1
    while c <= loop:
        even()
        c += 1
else:
    c = 1
    while c <= loop:
        odd()
        c += 1
Asked By: MikhailTal

||
Source

Answers:

You can’t reshuffle a dictionary. What you can do is create a list of the dictionary’s keys and shuffle that in order to achieve a new arbitrary order in which to access the dictionary’s contents:

>>> import random
>>> d = {1:2, 3:4, 5:6, 7:8, 9:10}
>>> d
{1: 2, 3: 4, 9: 10, 5: 6, 7: 8}
>>> keys =  list(d.keys())      # Python 3; use keys = d.keys() in Python 2
>>> random.shuffle(keys)
>>> [(key, d[key]) for key in keys]
[(1, 2), (5, 6), (7, 8), (9, 10), (3, 4)]
>>> random.shuffle(keys)
>>> [(key, d[key]) for key in keys]
[(9, 10), (3, 4), (1, 2), (7, 8), (5, 6)]
>>> random.shuffle(keys)
>>> [(key, d[key]) for key in keys]
[(1, 2), (7, 8), (3, 4), (5, 6), (9, 10)]
Answered By: Tim Pietzcker

Randomly assign keys to values:

from random import shuffle

x = dict(a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4)

# py2.7
values = x.values()
# py3.*
values = list( x.values() )

# It does not make any difference, whether values or keys are shuffled
# but it could lead to wrong conclusions to shuffle the keys.
shuffle(values)

y = dict(zip(x.keys(), values))
# py2.7
print y
# py3.*
print(y)

Output

{'a': 1, 'c': 4, 'b': 2, 'd': 3}
Answered By: koffein

You can’t order the built-in dict, but in the collections module there is OrderedDict:

>>> from collections import OrderedDict
>>> from random import random
>>> od = OrderedDict(a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4)
>>> # sorts a list by  whatever the key-callable returns => its randomly sorted
>>> shuffled_key_value_list = sorted(od.items(), key=lambda x: random())
>>> shuffled_key_value_list # (this might also do it)
[('d', 4), ('c', 3), ('a', 1), ('b', 2)]
>>> OrderedDict(shuffled_key_value_list)
OrderedDict([('d', 4), ('c', 3), ('a', 1), ('b', 2)])
Answered By: koffein

Well I think that you can also do it simpler, without lambdas etc.:

from random import shuffle
from collections import OrderedDict 
a = {num-97:chr(num) for num in range(97, 107)}
# a = {0: 'a', 1: 'b', 2: 'c', 3: 'd', 4: 'e', 5: 'f', 6: 'g', 7: 'h', 8: 'i', 9: 'j'}
b = list(a.items())
shuffle(b)
a = OrderedDict(b) #Or just stay with b
# a = OrderedDict([(1, 'b'), (6, 'g'), (4, 'e'), (3, 'd'), (5, 'f'), (8, 'i'), (2, 'c'), (7, 'h'), (9, 'j'), (0, 'a')])
# b = [(1, 'b'), (6, 'g'), (4, 'e'), (3, 'd'), (5, 'f'), (8, 'i'), (2, 'c'), (7, 'h'), (9, 'j'), (0, 'a')]

I think that using shuffle makes the code clearer then using sorted with random key.

For shuffling keys only it would make something like:

keys = list(a.keys())
shuffle(keys)
OrderedDict(zip(keys, a.values()))
# OrderedDict([(3, 'a'), (1, 'b'), (9, 'c'), (4, 'd'), (6, 'e'), (8, 'f'), (0, 'g'), (2, 'h'), (5, 'i'), (7, 'j')])
Answered By: Piotr Kamoda

I saw that guys twisted this simple question (if I get it though). To shuffle the contents of a dictionary lets say

a={'a':1,'b':2,'c':3}

we can do in three simple steps:

  1. listing the items of given dictionary

    a1 = list(a.items())

    Out[1]: [(‘a’, 1), (‘b’, 2), (‘c’, 3)]

  2. shuffling the items list

    numpy.random.shuffle(a1)

    Out[2]: [(‘b’, 2), (‘c’, 3), (‘a’, 1)]

  3. getting shuffled dictionary

    a = dict(a1)

    Out[3]: {‘b’: 2, ‘c’: 3, ‘a’: 1}

Answered By: Ali

If you’re using Python 3.7+, where dicts are officially ordered, you can convert the dict items to a list of tuples for shuffling before converting it back to a dict with the dict() constructor:

import random

d = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3, "d": 4}

# This shuffling is not in-place
l = list(d.items())
random.shuffle(l)
d_shuffled = dict(l)
Answered By: blhsing

Simple idea to randomly shuffling a dictionary is use set. Even You don’t
need library random.

d = {'a':'1','b':'2','c':'3','d':'4'}
d_set = list(set(d))
d = {i:d[i] for i in d_set}
Answered By: Marcjin Sznurkowskl

A one-line method to select random keys from a dict, and create a new dict with the random-key order:

import random
random.seed(0)
d = dict(a=1,b=2,c=3,d=4)
x = {k:d[k] for k in random.sample(list(d.keys()), len(d))}

>>> print(d)
{'a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3, 'd': 4}

>>> print(x)
{'d': 4, 'b': 2, 'a': 1, 'c': 3}
Answered By: Avi Vajpeyi
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