Python - How to sort a list of alpha and numeric values?

Question

Is there a fast way to sort this list :

list = ['J', 'E', 3, 7, 0]

in order to get this one (numeric first, and then alpha) in python? :

list = [0, 3, 7, 'E', 'J']

Have you tried using the sort function? list.sort() should do what you want. — user2731223
– user2731223, Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 23:49
Side note, never shadow built-ins, e.g. use L or list_ as variable names. — jpp
– jpp, Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 23:52
Sorry, I've edited my question because my list is a list of tuples so I'm a bit confused with it... — Veilleuse
– Veilleuse, Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 0:07
Can you update the question with the expected output for the list of tuples example? — Raquel Guimarães
– Raquel Guimarães, Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 0:10
I reversed the edit on your question, because if that was your data, you should've said so from the start. Your edit gleefully invalidates every answer here, and that just isn't done, because it isn't fair to the people who've invested time into solving your problem. Now, because of how you framed your question initially, your problem hasn't been solved and our time here has been spent in vain. Please keep this in mind. I recommend opening a new question referencing this one. — cs95
– cs95, Commented Oct 5, 2018 at 0:31

cs95 · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-05 00:02:37Z

1

Since you're dealing with numbers (that, in this case, are <10) and strings, you can simplify your key and remove the lambda:

>>> sorted(lst, key=str)
[0, 3, 7, 'E', 'J']

Or, even better, use list.sort for an in-place sorting.

>>> lst.sort(key=str)
>>> lst
[0, 3, 7, 'E', 'J']

Each item will be sorted based on the ASCII value of the str-ified value.

Note that, if you're dealing with numbers >=10 (highly likely), then this solution will end up sorting the numbers lexicographically. To get around that, you will end up needing the lambda.

>>> lst.sort(key=lambda x: (isinstance(x, str), x)))

Which is @jpp's solution.

edited Oct 5, 2018 at 0:02

answered Oct 4, 2018 at 23:54

cs95

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jpp · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-04 23:50:51Z

0

You can sort with a (Boolean, value) tuple:

L = ['J', 'E', 3, 7, 0]

res = sorted(L, key=lambda x: (isinstance(x, str), x))

# [0, 3, 7, 'E', 'J']

answered Oct 4, 2018 at 23:50

jpp

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Andrej Shulaev · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-04 23:52:39Z

0

If you will use list.sort() on you list, you will get

TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'int' and 'str'

You have to convert all items in list into string type.

[str(i) for i in list]

answered Oct 4, 2018 at 23:52

Andrej Shulaev

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