python sort list of json by value

Write a function that uses try...except to handle the KeyError, then use this as the key argument instead of your lambda.

def extract_time(json):
    try:
        # Also convert to int since update_time will be string.  When comparing
        # strings, "10" is smaller than "2".
        return int(json['page']['update_time'])
    except KeyError:
        return 0

# lines.sort() is more efficient than lines = lines.sorted()
lines.sort(key=extract_time, reverse=True)

You can use dict.get() with a default value:

lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)

Example:

>>> lines = [
...     {"page": {"url": "url1", "update_time": "1415387875"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url2", "update_time": "1415381963"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url3", "update_time": "1415384938"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url4"}, "other_key": {}},
...     {"page": {"url": "url5"}, "other_key": {}}
... ]
>>> lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)
>>> for line in lines:
...     print line
... 
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url1', 'update_time': '1415387875'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url3', 'update_time': '1415384938'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url2', 'update_time': '1415381963'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url4'}}
{'other_key': {}, 'page': {'url': 'url5'}}

Though, I would still follow the EAFP principle that Ferdinand suggested - this way you would also handle cases when page key is also missing. Much easier to let it fail and handle it than checking all sorts of corner cases.

# sort json
lines = sorted(lines, key=lambda k: k['page'].get('update_time', 0), reverse=True)

def get_sortest_key(a: dict, o: dict):
    v = None
    k = None
    for key, value in a.items():
        if v is None:
            v = value
            k = key
            continue
        if v > value:
            v = value
            k = key
    o.update({k: v})
    a.pop(k)
    if a:
        get_sortest_key(a, o)
    else:
        return


def call(o):
    a = {'a': 9, 'b': 1, 'c': 3, 'k': 3, 'l': -1, 's': 100}
    z = get_sortest_key(a, o)
    print(o)


o={}    
call(o)