Ned Batchelder (the author of the coverage.py module) has a succinct alphanumeric sort:
import re
def tryint(s):
try:
return int(s)
except:
return s
def alphanum_key(s):
""" Turn a string into a list of string and number chunks.
"z23a" -> ["z", 23, "a"]
"""
return [ tryint(c) for c in re.split('([0-9]+)', s) ]
def sort_nicely(l):
""" Sort the given list in the way that humans expect.
"""
l.sort(key=alphanum_key)The result would be:
>>>alpha_num = ["a","1","100","a1","a10","9","b7","b8"]
>>>sort_nicely(alpha_num)
>>> alpha_num['1', '9', '100', 'a', 'a1', 'a10', 'b7', 'b8']Be sure and check out the comments as there are a number of suggested improvements.
