CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonlist-comprehension
Matthieu Riegler
Matthieu Riegler

Reputation: 54783

Python : Finding an item in a list where a function return a minimum value?

I've a list of point with coordinates and another point.

A sample from the list :

(45.1531912,5.7184742),(45.1531912,5.7184742),(45.1531113,5.7184544),(45.1525337,5.718298),(45.1525337,5.718298),

A point : 

(45.1533837,5.7185242)

A function : 

def dist(point1,point2)
   ....
   return aDistance

Is there a python one liner (list-comprehension ?) to find a point in the list where a given function returns the minimal value for the list ?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 582

Answers (1)

Martijn Pieters
Martijn Pieters

Reputation: 1121714

The min() function takes a key argument already, no need for a list comprehension.

Let's say you wanted to find the closest point in the list to the origin:

min(list_of_points, key=lambda p: distance(p, (0, 0)))

would find it (given a distance() function that calculates the distance between two points).

From the documentation:

The optional key argument specifies a one-argument ordering function like that used for list.sort(). The key argument, if supplied, must be in keyword form (for example, min(a,b,c,key=func)).

Upvotes: 8

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