Find minimum non zero value in dictionary (Python)

Question

I have a dictionary and I would like to get the key whose value is the minimum nonzero.

E.g. given the input:

{1:0, 2:1, 3:2}

It would return 2.

Answer 1

You can do it on one iteration.

d = {1:0, 2:1, 3:2}

# Save the minimum value and the key that belongs to it as we go
min_val = None
result = None
for k, v in d.items():
    if v and (min_val is None or v < min_val):
        min_val = v
        result = k

print(result)

Some assumptions:

• Negative values will be considered
• It will return the first key that found
• If it helps, min_val will hold the minimum value