Does Python have a built in function for string na

Question

Using Python 3.x, I have a list of strings for which I would like to perform a natural alphabetical sort.

Natural sort: The order by which files in Windows are sorted.

For instance, the following list is naturally sorted (what I want):

['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']

And here's the "sorted" version of the above list (what I have):

['Elm11', 'Elm12', 'Elm2', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'elm10', 'elm13', 'elm9']

I'm looking for a sort function which behaves like the first one.

Answer 1

And now for something more* elegant (pythonic) -just a touch

There are many implementations out there, and while some have come close, none quite captured the elegance modern python affords.

• Tested using python(3.5.1)
• Included an additional list to demonstrate that it works when the numbers are mid string
• Didn't test, however, I am assuming that if your list was sizable it would be more efficient to compile the regex beforehand
  • I'm sure someone will correct me if this is an erroneous assumption

Quicky

from re import compile, split    
dre = compile(r'(\d+)')
mylist.sort(key=lambda l: [int(s) if s.isdigit() else s.lower() for s in split(dre, l)])

Full-Code

#!/usr/bin/python3
# coding=utf-8
"""
Natural-Sort Test
"""

from re import compile, split

dre = compile(r'(\d+)')
mylist = ['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13', 'elm']
mylist2 = ['e0lm', 'e1lm', 'E2lm', 'e9lm', 'e10lm', 'E12lm', 'e13lm', 'elm', 'e01lm']

mylist.sort(key=lambda l: [int(s) if s.isdigit() else s.lower() for s in split(dre, l)])
mylist2.sort(key=lambda l: [int(s) if s.isdigit() else s.lower() for s in split(dre, l)])

print(mylist)  
  # ['elm', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']
print(mylist2)  
  # ['e0lm', 'e1lm', 'e01lm', 'E2lm', 'e9lm', 'e10lm', 'E12lm', 'e13lm', 'elm']

Caution when using

• from os.path import split
  • you will need to differentiate the imports

Inspiration from

• Python Documentation- Sorting HOW TO
• Sorting for Humans : Natural Sort Order
• Human Sorting
• Contributors/Commentators to this and referenced posts

Answer 2

Value Of This Post

My point is to offer a non regex solution that can be applied generally.
I'll create three functions:

1. find_first_digit which I borrowed from @AnuragUniyal. It will find the position of the first digit or non-digit in a string.
2. split_digits which is a generator that picks apart a string into digit and non digit chunks. It will also yield integers when it is a digit.
3. natural_key just wraps split_digits into a tuple. This is what we use as a key for sorted, max, min.

Functions

def find_first_digit(s, non=False):
    for i, x in enumerate(s):
        if x.isdigit() ^ non:
            return i
    return -1

def split_digits(s, case=False):
    non = True
    while s:
        i = find_first_digit(s, non)
        if i == 0:
            non = not non
        elif i == -1:
            yield int(s) if s.isdigit() else s if case else s.lower()
            s = ''
        else:
            x, s = s[:i], s[i:]
            yield int(x) if x.isdigit() else x if case else x.lower()

def natural_key(s, *args, **kwargs):
    return tuple(split_digits(s, *args, **kwargs))

We can see that it is general in that we can have multiple digit chunks:

# Note that the key has lower case letters
natural_key('asl;dkfDFKJ:sdlkfjdf809lkasdjfa_543_hh')

('asl;dkfdfkj:sdlkfjdf', 809, 'lkasdjfa_', 543, '_hh')

Or leave as case sensitive:

natural_key('asl;dkfDFKJ:sdlkfjdf809lkasdjfa_543_hh', True)

('asl;dkfDFKJ:sdlkfjdf', 809, 'lkasdjfa_', 543, '_hh')

---

We can see that it sorts the OP's list in the appropriate order

sorted(
    ['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13'],
    key=natural_key
)

['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']

But it can handle more complicated lists as well:

sorted(
    ['f_1', 'e_1', 'a_2', 'g_0', 'd_0_12:2', 'd_0_1_:2'],
    key=natural_key
)

['a_2', 'd_0_1_:2', 'd_0_12:2', 'e_1', 'f_1', 'g_0']

---

My regex equivalent would be

def int_maybe(x):
    return int(x) if str(x).isdigit() else x

def split_digits_re(s, case=False):
    parts = re.findall('\d+|\D+', s)
    if not case:
        return map(int_maybe, (x.lower() for x in parts))
    else:
        return map(int_maybe, parts)

def natural_key_re(s, *args, **kwargs):
    return tuple(split_digits_re(s, *args, **kwargs))

Answer 3

I wrote a function based on http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/12/sorting-for-humans-natural-sort-order.html which adds the ability to still pass in your own 'key' parameter. I need this in order to perform a natural sort of lists that contain more complex objects (not just strings).

import re

def natural_sort(list, key=lambda s:s):
    """
    Sort the list into natural alphanumeric order.
    """
    def get_alphanum_key_func(key):
        convert = lambda text: int(text) if text.isdigit() else text 
        return lambda s: [convert(c) for c in re.split('([0-9]+)', key(s))]
    sort_key = get_alphanum_key_func(key)
    list.sort(key=sort_key)

For example:

my_list = [{'name':'b'}, {'name':'10'}, {'name':'a'}, {'name':'1'}, {'name':'9'}]
natural_sort(my_list, key=lambda x: x['name'])
print my_list
[{'name': '1'}, {'name': '9'}, {'name': '10'}, {'name': 'a'}, {'name': 'b'}]

Answer 4

Given:

data=['Elm11', 'Elm12', 'Elm2', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'elm10', 'elm13', 'elm9']

Similar to SergO's solution, a 1-liner without external libraries would be:

data.sort(key=lambda x : int(x[3:]))

or

sorted_data=sorted(data, key=lambda x : int(x[3:]))

Explanation:

This solution uses the key feature of sort to define a function that will be employed for the sorting. Because we know that every data entry is preceded by 'elm' the sorting function converts to integer the portion of the string after the 3rd character (i.e. int(x[3:])). If the numerical part of the data is in a different location, then this part of the function would have to change.

Cheers

Answer 5

There is a third party library for this on PyPI called natsort (full disclosure, I am the package's author). For your case, you can do either of the following:

>>> from natsort import natsorted, ns
>>> x = ['Elm11', 'Elm12', 'Elm2', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'elm10', 'elm13', 'elm9']
>>> natsorted(x, key=lambda y: y.lower())
['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']
>>> natsorted(x, alg=ns.IGNORECASE)  # or alg=ns.IC
['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']

You should note that natsort uses a general algorithm so it should work for just about any input that you throw at it. If you want more details on why you might choose a library to do this rather than rolling your own function, check out the natsort documentation's How It Works page, in particular the Special Cases Everywhere! section.

---

If you need a sorting key instead of a sorting function, use either of the below formulas.

>>> from natsort import natsort_keygen, ns
>>> l1 = ['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']
>>> l2 = l1[:]
>>> natsort_key1 = natsort_keygen(key=lambda y: y.lower())
>>> l1.sort(key=natsort_key1)
>>> l1
['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']
>>> natsort_key2 = natsort_keygen(alg=ns.IGNORECASE)
>>> l2.sort(key=natsort_key2)
>>> l2
['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']

Answer 6

Based on the answers here, I wrote a natural_sorted function that behaves like the built-in function sorted:

# Copyright (C) 2018, Benjamin Drung <[e-mail]>
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
# purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
# copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
# WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
# MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
# ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
# WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
# ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
# OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

import re

def natural_sorted(iterable, key=None, reverse=False):
    """Return a new naturally sorted list from the items in *iterable*.

    The returned list is in natural sort order. The string is ordered
    lexicographically (using the Unicode code point number to order individual
    characters), except that multi-digit numbers are ordered as a single
    character.

    Has two optional arguments which must be specified as keyword arguments.

    *key* specifies a function of one argument that is used to extract a
    comparison key from each list element: ``key=str.lower``.  The default value
    is ``None`` (compare the elements directly).

    *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the list elements are
    sorted as if each comparison were reversed.

    The :func:`natural_sorted` function is guaranteed to be stable. A sort is
    stable if it guarantees not to change the relative order of elements that
    compare equal --- this is helpful for sorting in multiple passes (for
    example, sort by department, then by salary grade).
    """
    prog = re.compile(r"(\d+)")

    def alphanum_key(element):
        """Split given key in list of strings and digits"""
        return [int(c) if c.isdigit() else c for c in prog.split(key(element)
                if key else element)]

    return sorted(iterable, key=alphanum_key, reverse=reverse)

The source code is also available in my GitHub snippets repository: https://github.com/bdrung/snippets/blob/master/natural_sorted.py