How to keep keys values in same order as declared

Question

I have a dictionary that I declared in a particular order and want to keep it in that order all the time. The keys/values can't really be kept in order based on their value, I just want it in the order that I declared it.

So if I have the dictionary:

d = {'ac': 33, 'gw': 20, 'ap': 102, 'za': 321, 'bs': 10}

It isn't in that order if I view it or iterate through it, is there any way to make sure Python will keep the explicit order that I declared the keys/values in?

Answer 1

Hello @kartik,

Dictionaries will use an order that makes searching efficient, and you cant change that,

You could just use a list of objects (a 2 element tuple in a simple case, or even a class), and append items to the end. You can then use linear search to find items in it.

Alternatively you could create or use a different data structure created with the intention of maintaining order.