how can I sort NSMutableDictionary with keys value?

Question

I have a NSMutableDictionary with string keys and every key has its own array. I want to re-sort the dictionary with keys value alphabetically. How can I do this?

i have unsorted NSMutableDictionary with key value and i want to re-sort same NSMutableDictionary with key values alphabetically. Is that possible with NSMutableDictionary? — Alaattin Bedir, Nov 14 '11 at 16:06

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 14 '11 at 08:30

A dictionary is unsorted by definition.

For iterating over the keys in a specific order, you can sort an array containing the keys of the dictionary.

NSArray *keys = [theDictionary allKeys];
NSArray *sortedKeys = [keys sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(compareMethod:)];

There are several other sorted... methods, e.g. sorting with a NSComparator. Have a look here.

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 10 '12 at 09:40

8

Use this one

NSArray *myKeys = [Dict allKeys];
NSArray *sortedKeys = [myKeys sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(caseInsensitiveCompare:)];
NSMutableArray *sortedValues = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease];

for(id key in sortedKeys) {
    id object = [Dict objectForKey:key];
    [sortedValues addObject:object];
}

edited Oct 10 '12 at 09:40

answered Nov 14 '11 at 08:31

Rahul Juyal

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I used this code to retrieve sorted dictionary but still get it unsorted `code NSMutableDictionary *dicProjectListSorted = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary]; NSArray *sortedKeys = [keys sortedArrayUsingSelector:@selector(localizedCaseInsensitiveCompare:)]; NSMutableArray *sortedValues = [[[NSMutableArray alloc] init] autorelease]; for(id key in sortedKeys) { id object = [dicProjectList objectForKey:key]; [sortedValues addObject:object]; [dicProjectListSorted setObject:sortedValues forKey:key]; } – Alaattin Bedir Nov 14 '11 at 12:50
from this code u get shorted key value and thn by key value u get your data – Rahul Juyal Nov 14 '11 at 13:09
sortedKeys getting correct as sorted but when i try to recreate dictionary (dicProjectListSorted) inside a loop i get it unsorted?? – Alaattin Bedir Nov 14 '11 at 13:30

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 17 '15 at 13:25

3

NSDictionary *yourDictionary;
NSArray *sortedKeys = [yourDictionary.allKeys sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:@[[NSSortDescriptor sortDescriptorWithKey:@"self" ascending:YES]]];
NSArray *sortedValues = [yourDictionary objectsForKeys:sortedKeys notFoundMarker:@""];

answered Aug 17 '15 at 13:25

Vitalii Gozhenko

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A worthy addition would be - that a Dictionary (whether mutable or immutable) maintains a hash table of its keys, and so - can never be really "sorted" - hence you MUST go through another collection object (here NSArray) which is ordered (maintains order of the items in the collection). – Motti Shneor Sep 26 '21 at 10:37

how can I sort NSMutableDictionary with keys value?

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