python - extracting values from dictionary in order

Question

I have a dictionary with some share related data:

share_data = {'2016-06-13':{'open': 2190, 'close':2200}, '2015-09-10':{'open': 2870, 'close':2450} # and so on, circa 1,500 entries

is there a way of iterating over the dictionary in order, so the oldest date is retrieved first, then the one soon after etc?

thanks!

Answer 1

Sure, the default lexicographical order of your date strings will map to chronological order. So it is very easy:

for key in sorted(share_data.keys()):
    #do something

This post has some nice examples of custom sorting on dictionaries: http://pythoncentral.io/how-to-sort-python-dictionaries-by-key-or-value/