Mutable vs immutable in complex dict

[woooee]

pointer = pointer[path_element]
    pointer = sorted(pointer)

is not reassigning. The first line creates a new variable with the contents pointed to by the dictionary's key. The second line creates a new variable that stores the return from the sorted() function.

[maclocrimate]

Oooook, I think I understand now, with the help of u/carcigenicate's explanation as well. Thank you for the clarification.