How to sort OrderedDict when keys contains strings and numbers - Python

Question

I am using OrderedDict to sort a dict whose keys contain both strings and numbers. Here is my code:

from collections import OrderedDict
x = {}
x['mon'] = 10
x['day_1'] = 1
x['day_2'] = 2
x['day_10'] = 10
x['day_11'] = 11
dictionary1 = OrderedDict(sorted(x.items(), key=lambda t: len(t[0])))
dictionary2 = OrderedDict(sorted(x.items(), key=lambda t: t[0]))

I would like the output looks like (I do not care the location of mon:2):

OrderedDict([('mon', 2), ('day_1', 1), ('day_2', 2), ('day_10', 10), ('day_11', 11)])

but neither of the method worked. So I guess I might need to customize a sorting rule? Any suggestions?

update:

Here is my combined answer (Simeon Visser and hcwhsa):

def convert_dict_key(key):
    try:
        return int(key.split('_')[1])
    except:
        return key

alphanum_key = lambda (key, value): convert_dict_key(key)
dictionary = sorted(dictionary.items(), key=alphanum_key)

Dup: [Does Python have a built in function for string **natural sort**?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4836710/does-python-have-a-built-in-function-for-string-natural-sort) — Ashwini Chaudhary, Nov 12 '13 at 18:46
@hcwhsa: Sort of. But that post does not have the solution using `OrderDict` — TTT, Nov 12 '13 at 18:51
@tao.hong You're sorting a list here(`x.items()`) not `OrderedDict`. — Ashwini Chaudhary, Nov 12 '13 at 18:52
@Thanks for pointing that out. I do get an idea from that post. — TTT, Nov 12 '13 at 18:57

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '13 at 18:47

You can do:

>>> dictionary3 = OrderedDict(sorted(x.items(), key=lambda (key, value): int(key.split('_')[1])))
>>> dictionary3
OrderedDict([('day_1', 1), ('day_2', 2), ('day_10', 10), ('day_11', 11)])

This splits the keys by '_' and sorts the day numbers as integers.

How to sort OrderedDict when keys contains strings and numbers - Python

update:

1 Answers1