Rearrange the result by ordering (Python 2.7.15)

Question

I'm trying to rearrange the row by ordering.

if "MCS7" changes to "MCS11" as below list, How will you code?

list = [['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.02', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-32.08', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.98', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '763.52', 'Hz', 'PASS']]
for l in sorted(list, key = lambda x: ( x[4], x[5] ) ):
    print l

I expect the output that as below, by ordering "MCS5~MCS11".

['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS']]
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.02', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-32.08', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.98', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '763.52', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS11', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],

Possible duplicate of [How to sort (list/tuple) of lists/tuples?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3121979/how-to-sort-list-tuple-of-lists-tuples) — Patrick Artner, May 10 '19 at 08:33

Patrick Artner · Answer 1 · 2019-05-14T16:24:07.317

You would need to sort your list based on one element of your inner lists. A similar questions (using list tuples are is asked here: How to sort (list/tuple) of lists/tuples? )

You can use the key paramter of sort()/sorted() and a lambda or 8operator.itemgetter](https://docs.python.org/2/library/operator.html#operator.itemgetter) for it :

data = [
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.02', 'dBm', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-32.08', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.98', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.56', 'dB', 'PASS'],
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '763.52', 'Hz', 'PASS']]

# sort by 5th value and 6th value so that same 5th are alphabetically sorted
for l in sorted(data, key = lambda x: ( x[4], x[5] ) ):
    print l

Output:

['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS5', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.02', 'dBm', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '763.52', 'Hz', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-32.08', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.98', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS6', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.56', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'Burst Power (Average)', '-100', '30', '12.09', 'dBm', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'Center Freq. Error (Average)', '-60300', '60300', '663.96', 'Hz', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM All Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.56', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM Data Carriers (Average)', '', '-27', '-31.45', 'dB', 'PASS']
['', '', '1', '2412', 'MCS7', 'EVM Pilot Carriers (Average)', '', '-8', '-33.38', 'dB', 'PASS']

Read more about sorting:

2.7/howto/sorting and
key-functions

About lambda: Why are Python lambdas useful?

To sort by the "pure" numerical value, use:

for l in sorted(data, key = lambda x: ( int(x[4][3:]) , x[5]) ):
    print l

The part

int(x[4][3:])

strips away "MCS" by slicing and converts the remainder to an integer as first part of the tuple.

Dear Patrick, if "MCS7" changes to "MCS11", there are "MCS5", "MCS6" and "MCS11". How will you change the coding? Because actual re-arrangement will "MCS11", "MCS5", "MCS6". — Alvin, May 14 '19 at 16:04
A new issue if "MCS7" changes to "11Mbps", "MCS6" changes to "5.5Mbps", and "MCS6" changes to "1Mbps", how will you code? — Alvin, May 14 '19 at 16:54
How would you? I am not providing answers to every follow up question you got. In software development processes this is called [feature or scope creep](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/447344/). You do the same as for integers: you find a way to split the data you want how you want it and then make it a number (int/float) - you can write a small helper function for that and apply it `(helper(x[4]),x[5])` instead of `( int(x[4][3:]) , x[5])`. In your case your helper could remove all Letters from the string - unless you also got `'34Evil14Things2Do'` => `34142` — Patrick Artner, May 14 '19 at 16:57
Sorry for further specific issue that makes you unhappy since I thought you may have clever way to sort "11Mbps,5.5Mbps,1Mbps". As your final words, I've tried remove all letters from string. Thanks. — Alvin, May 15 '19 at 01:17
Dear Patrick, On "11Mbps,5.5Mbps,1Mbps" condition, I try the code without remove string just for your reference as below, and thanks for your suggestion key function, "lambda". for l in sorted(data, key = lambda x: ( int(x[3]) , eval(x[4].split('M')[0]))): print l — Alvin, May 15 '19 at 03:35

Rearrange the result by ordering (Python 2.7.15)

1 Answers1