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Python 2.7
In python 2, the keys(), values(), and items() functions of OrderedDict return lists. Using values as an example, the simplest way is
d.values()[0] # "python"
d.values()[1] # "spam"
For large collections where you only care about a single index, you can avoid creating the full list using the generator versions, iterkeys, itervalues and iteritems:
import itertools
next(itertools.islice(d.itervalues(), 0, 1)) # "python"
next(itertools.islice(d.itervalues(), 1, 2)) # "spam"
The indexed.py package provides IndexedOrderedDict, which is designed for this use case and will be the fastest option.
from indexed import IndexedOrderedDict
d = IndexedOrderedDict({'foo':'python','bar':'spam'})
d.values()[0] # "python"
d.values()[1] # "spam"
Using itervalues can be considerably faster for large dictionaries with random access:
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 1000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i:i+1]'
1000 loops, best of 3: 259 usec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 10000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i:i+1]'
100 loops, best of 3: 2.3 msec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 100000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i:i+1]'
10 loops, best of 3: 24.5 msec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 1000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); next(itertools.islice(d.itervalues(), i, i+1))'
10000 loops, best of 3: 118 usec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 10000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); next(itertools.islice(d.itervalues(), i, i+1))'
1000 loops, best of 3: 1.26 msec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from collections import OrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 100000; d = OrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); next(itertools.islice(d.itervalues(), i, i+1))'
100 loops, best of 3: 10.9 msec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from indexed import IndexedOrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 1000; d = IndexedOrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i]'
100000 loops, best of 3: 2.19 usec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from indexed import IndexedOrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 10000; d = IndexedOrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i]'
100000 loops, best of 3: 2.24 usec per loop
$ python2 -m timeit -s 'from indexed import IndexedOrderedDict; from random import randint; size = 100000; d = IndexedOrderedDict({i:i for i in range(size)})' 'i = randint(0, size-1); d.values()[i]'
100000 loops, best of 3: 2.61 usec per loop
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+
| size | list (ms) | generator (ms) | indexed |
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+
| 1000 | .259 | .118 | .00219 |
| 10000 | 2.3 | 1.26 | .00224 |
| 100000 | 24.5 | 10.9 | .00261 |
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+
Python 3.6
Python 3 has the same two basic options (list vs generator), but the dict methods return generators by default.
List method:
list(d.values())[0] # "python"
list(d.values())[1] # "spam"
Generator method:
import itertools
next(itertools.islice(d.values(), 0, 1)) # "python"
next(itertools.islice(d.values(), 1, 2)) # "spam"
Python 3 dictionaries are an order of magnitude faster than python 2 and have similar speedups for using generators.
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+
| size | list (ms) | generator (ms) | indexed |
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+
| 1000 | .0316 | .0165 | .00262 |
| 10000 | .288 | .166 | .00294 |
| 100000 | 3.53 | 1.48 | .00332 |
+--------+-----------+----------------+---------+