Sort list of strings alphabetically

Question

So i have a question, how can i sort this list:

['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']

to be like this:

['arancia','mela','Pera','UVA']

In the exercise it said to use the sorted() function with the cmp argument.

Why do you need any argument? Won't that just work if you give it to the sorted function? — OneCricketeer, Jun 16 '16 at 11:21
running sorted(myList) will do that for you. You don't the cmp argument — Amin Alaee, Jun 16 '16 at 11:22
it will not. it will sort the Uppercase letter words first then the lowercase ones. — Doni, Jun 16 '16 at 11:22
No it has to be sorted alphabeticaly. lowercase or upercase first doesn`t matter. for example: list['Car','amazing','zipcode','Orange'] sorted into: list['amazing','Car','Orange','zipcode'] — Doni, Jun 16 '16 at 11:26

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 16 '16 at 11:34

6

You can easily do that, using the key argument:

my_list = ['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']
my_list.sort(key=str.lower)

Which will get your lowercases chars first.

This will change the object in-place and my_list will be sorted.

You can use sorted function with the same key argument as well, if you want to have a new list. For example:

my_list = ['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']
my_sorted_list = sorted(my_list,key=str.lower)

Output will be:

>>> my_list
['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']
>>> my_sorted_list
['arancia', 'mela', 'Pera', 'UVA']

edited Jun 16 '16 at 11:34

Abdul Fatir

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answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:23

Avihoo Mamka

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Good answer. Can also note that `sorted` can use the same key if desired. – erip Jun 16 '16 at 11:28
Can you please provide the output of this answer? – Amin Alaee Jun 16 '16 at 11:29
`list` methods operate in-place. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 16 '16 at 11:30
I don`t need lowercase first. just to sort alphabeticaly without considering lowercase or uppercase... ['Car','amazing','zipcode','Orange'] into ['amazing','Car','Orange','zipcode'] – Doni Jun 16 '16 at 11:30
['Car','amazing','zipcode','Orange'] into ['amazing','Car','Orange','zipcode'] sry for my english. it coused confusion. i need this. hope its more understandeble – Doni Jun 16 '16 at 11:32
We understand what you want. This accomplishes that goal. – erip Jun 16 '16 at 11:33
Yep it does :D sry and ty – Doni Jun 16 '16 at 11:34

kardaj · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16T11:33:24.313

4

You need to sort your elements based lowercase representation of the strings:

sorted(['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA'], key=str.lower)

this will output:

['arancia', 'mela', 'Pera', 'UVA']

edited Jun 16 '16 at 11:33

answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:23

kardaj

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Why only the first character? – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 16 '16 at 11:24
It was a mistake actually. The lowercase representation is enough @IgnacioVazquez-Abrams – kardaj Jun 16 '16 at 11:30

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:30

3

Use sorted() with a key.

>>> mc = ['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']
>>> sorted(mc, key=str.lower)
['arancia', 'mela', 'Pera', 'UVA']

answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:30

Abdul Fatir

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:35

1

This will help you:

>>> words = ['Pera','mela','arancia','UVA']
>>> sorted(words)
['Pera', 'UVA', 'arancia', 'mela']
>>> sorted(words, key=str.swapcase)
['arancia', 'mela', 'Pera', 'UVA']

Hope this helps

answered Jun 16 '16 at 11:35

Amin Alaee

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Sort list of strings alphabetically

4 Answers4