python custom sort list 1/2/3/../9/10

Question

I have a python list with filenames as follows: [name1, name10, name11, name2, name3, ..., name9].

I want it to be sorted like [name1, name2, name3, ..., name10, name11].

How can I do this?

I know that I can use a special key function (sorted(files, key=lambda name: etc.)), but I am not sure which function to apply.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Try This :

sorted(aList, key= lambda x: (lambda a, _, b: (a, int(b)) if b.isdigit() else (float("inf"), x))(*x.partition(" ")))

This will work as per your requirement. Also it doesn't require any third party library .

Answer 2

Try third party library for natural string sorting called natsort.

>>> import natsort
>>> my_list = [...]
>>> natsort.natsorted(my_list)

You can also specify key for sorting using key argument.

>>> natsort.natsorted(my_list, key=lambda x: ...)