sorts.natural_sort

Functions

natural_sort(→ list[str])

Sort the given list of strings in the way that humans expect.

Module Contents

sorts.natural_sort.natural_sort(input_list: list[str]) → list[str]

Sort the given list of strings in the way that humans expect.

The normal Python sort algorithm sorts lexicographically, so you might not get the results that you expect…

>>> example1 = ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in']
>>> sorted(example1)
['1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '2 ft 7 in', '7 ft 6 in']
>>> # The natural sort algorithm sort based on meaning and not computer code point.
>>> natural_sort(example1)
['1 ft 5 in', '2 ft 7 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in', '10 ft 2 in']

>>> example2 = ['Elm11', 'Elm12', 'Elm2', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'elm10', 'elm13', 'elm9']
>>> sorted(example2)
['Elm11', 'Elm12', 'Elm2', 'elm0', 'elm1', 'elm10', 'elm13', 'elm9']
>>> natural_sort(example2)
['elm0', 'elm1', 'Elm2', 'elm9', 'elm10', 'Elm11', 'Elm12', 'elm13']