gistfile1.py

def aggregateIndustry(inArray):
  returnArray = [{'_id':'31-33','friendly_name':'Manufacturing','count':0},
                 {'_id':'44-45','friendly_name':'Retail','count':0},
                 {'_id':'48-49','friendly_name':'Transportation','count':0}]
  for eachIndustry in inArray:
    if eachIndustry['_id'] in ['31','32','33']:
      returnArray[0]['count'] += eachIndustry['count']
      continue
    if eachIndustry['_id'] in ['44','45']:
      returnArray[1]['count'] += eachIndustry['count']
      continue
    if eachIndustry['_id'] in ['48','49']:
      returnArray[2]['count'] += eachIndustry['count']
      continue
    try:
      eachIndustry['friendly_name'] = apiconstants.industry_remap[eachIndustry['_id']]
      returnArray.append(eachIndustry)
    except:
      eachIndustry['friendly_name'] = 'Error'
      returnArray.append(eachIndustry)
    returnArray = sorted(returnArray,key=itemgetter('count'),reverse=True)
  return returnArray

So basically I get in a list of dictionaries. Each dictionary has a naics code in the '_id' field and an integer in the 'count' field. I want to add a third field called 'friendly_name' which the function will get from a dictionary called apiconstants.industry_remap.

In the case of Manufacturing, Retail, and Transportation I want to merge those industries into a single entry.

Everything works fine except that when I sort the output online 21 the count for Manufacturing, Retail, and Transportation becomes zero. If I do not sort the output, then the count is the sum of the fields as you would expect

For your try/except block, that will be difficult to debug and maintain and understand. If you're only trying to catch KeyErrors, just avoid them in the first place:

if eachIndustry['_id'] in apiconstants.industry_remap:
  eachIndustry['friendly_name'] = apiconstants.industry_remap[eachIndustry['_id']]
else:
  eachIndustry['friendly_name'] = 'Error'
returnArray.append(eachIndustry)

Maybe try key=attrgetter('count')?

You'll need to add that to your import call, naturally.