natsort ======= .. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/natsort.svg :target: https://pypi.org/project/natsort/ .. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/natsort.svg :target: https://pypi.org/project/natsort/ .. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/natsort.svg :target: https://github.com/SethMMorton/natsort/blob/master/LICENSE .. image:: https://img.shields.io/travis/SethMMorton/natsort/master.svg?label=travis-ci :target: https://travis-ci.org/SethMMorton/natsort .. image:: https://codecov.io/gh/SethMMorton/natsort/branch/master/graph/badge.svg :target: https://codecov.io/gh/SethMMorton/natsort .. image:: https://api.codacy.com/project/badge/Grade/f2bf04b1fc5d4792bf546f6e497cf4b8 :target: https://www.codacy.com/app/SethMMorton/natsort Simple yet flexible natural sorting in Python. - Source Code: https://github.com/SethMMorton/natsort - Downloads: https://pypi.org/project/natsort/ - Documentation: http://natsort.readthedocs.io/ - `Examples and Recipes `_ - `How Does Natsort Work? `_ - `API `_ - **NOTE**: The old documentation at pythonhosted.org has been taken down with no redirects. Please see `this post `_ for an explanation into why. - `Optional Dependencies`_ - `fastnumbers `_ >= 2.0.0 - `PyICU `_ >= 1.0.0 Quick Description ----------------- When you try to sort a list of strings that contain numbers, the normal python sort algorithm sorts lexicographically, so you might not get the results that you expect: .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in'] >>> sorted(a) ['1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '2 ft 7 in', '7 ft 6 in'] Notice that it has the order ('1', '10', '2') - this is because the list is being sorted in lexicographical order, which sorts numbers like you would letters (i.e. 'b', 'ba', 'c'). ``natsort`` provides a function ``natsorted`` that helps sort lists "naturally" ("naturally" is rather ill-defined, but in general it means sorting based on meaning and not computer code point). Using ``natsorted`` is simple: .. code-block:: python >>> from natsort import natsorted >>> a = ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in'] >>> natsorted(a) ['1 ft 5 in', '2 ft 7 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in', '10 ft 2 in'] ``natsorted`` identifies numbers anywhere in a string and sorts them naturally. Below are some other things you can do with ``natsort`` (also see the `examples `_ for a quick start guide, or the `api `_ for complete details). **Note**: ``natsorted`` is designed to be a drop-in replacement for the built-in ``sorted`` function. Like ``sorted``, ``natsorted`` `does not sort in-place`. To sort a list and assign the output to the same variable, you must explicitly assign the output to a variable: .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in'] >>> natsorted(a) ['1 ft 5 in', '2 ft 7 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in', '10 ft 2 in'] >>> print(a) # 'a' was not sorted; "natsorted" simply returned a sorted list ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in'] >>> a = natsorted(a) # Now 'a' will be sorted because the sorted list was assigned to 'a' >>> print(a) ['1 ft 5 in', '2 ft 7 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in', '10 ft 2 in'] Please see `Generating a Reusable Sorting Key and Sorting In-Place`_ for an alternate way to sort in-place naturally. Sorting Versions ++++++++++++++++ This is handled properly by default (as of ``natsort`` version >= 4.0.0): .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['version-1.9', 'version-2.0', 'version-1.11', 'version-1.10'] >>> natsorted(a) ['version-1.9', 'version-1.10', 'version-1.11', 'version-2.0'] If you need to sort release candidates, please see `this useful hack `_. Sorting by Real Numbers (i.e. Signed Floats) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is useful in scientific data analysis and was the default behavior of ``natsorted`` for ``natsort`` version < 4.0.0. Use the ``realsorted`` function: .. code-block:: python >>> from natsort import realsorted, ns >>> # Note that when interpreting as signed floats, the below numbers are >>> # +5.10, -3.00, +5.30, +2.00 >>> a = ['position5.10.data', 'position-3.data', 'position5.3.data', 'position2.data'] >>> natsorted(a) ['position2.data', 'position5.3.data', 'position5.10.data', 'position-3.data'] >>> natsorted(a, alg=ns.REAL) ['position-3.data', 'position2.data', 'position5.10.data', 'position5.3.data'] >>> realsorted(a) # shortcut for natsorted with alg=ns.REAL ['position-3.data', 'position2.data', 'position5.10.data', 'position5.3.data'] Locale-Aware Sorting (or "Human Sorting") +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is where the non-numeric characters are also ordered based on their meaning, not on their ordinal value, and a locale-dependent thousands separator and decimal separator is accounted for in the number. This can be achieved with the ``humansorted`` function: .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['Apple', 'apple15', 'Banana', 'apple14,689', 'banana'] >>> natsorted(a) ['Apple', 'Banana', 'apple14,689', 'apple15', 'banana'] >>> import locale >>> locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US.UTF-8') 'en_US.UTF-8' >>> natsorted(a, alg=ns.LOCALE) ['apple15', 'apple14,689', 'Apple', 'banana', 'Banana'] >>> from natsort import humansorted >>> humansorted(a) # shortcut for natsorted with alg=ns.LOCALE ['apple15', 'apple14,689', 'Apple', 'banana', 'Banana'] You may find you need to explicitly set the locale to get this to work (as shown in the example). Please see `locale issues `_ and the `Optional Dependencies`_ section below before using the ``humansorted`` function. Further Customizing Natsort +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you need to combine multiple algorithm modifiers (such as ``ns.REAL``, ``ns.LOCALE``, and ``ns.IGNORECASE``), you can combine the options using the bitwise OR operator (``|``). For example, .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['Apple', 'apple15', 'Banana', 'apple14,689', 'banana'] >>> natsorted(a, alg=ns.REAL | ns.LOCALE | ns.IGNORECASE) ['Apple', 'apple15', 'apple14,689', 'Banana', 'banana'] >>> # The ns enum provides long and short forms for each option. >>> ns.LOCALE == ns.L True >>> # You can also customize the convenience functions, too. >>> natsorted(a, alg=ns.REAL | ns.LOCALE | ns.IGNORECASE) == realsorted(a, alg=ns.L | ns.IC) True >>> natsorted(a, alg=ns.REAL | ns.LOCALE | ns.IGNORECASE) == humansorted(a, alg=ns.R | ns.IC) True All of the available customizations can be found in the documentation for `the ns enum `_. Sorting Mixed Types +++++++++++++++++++ You can mix and match ``int``, ``float``, and ``str`` (or ``unicode``) types when you sort: .. code-block:: python >>> a = ['4.5', 6, 2.0, '5', 'a'] >>> natsorted(a) [2.0, '4.5', '5', 6, 'a'] >>> # On Python 2, sorted(a) would return [2.0, 6, '4.5', '5', 'a'] >>> # On Python 3, sorted(a) would raise an "unorderable types" TypeError Handling Bytes on Python 3 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ``natsort`` does not officially support the `bytes` type on Python 3, but convenience functions are provided that help you decode to `str` first: .. code-block:: python >>> from natsort import as_utf8 >>> a = [b'a', 14.0, 'b'] >>> # On Python 2, natsorted(a) would would work as expected. >>> # On Python 3, natsorted(a) would raise a TypeError (bytes() < str()) >>> natsorted(a, key=as_utf8) == [14.0, b'a', 'b'] True >>> a = [b'a56', b'a5', b'a6', b'a40'] >>> # On Python 2, natsorted(a) would would work as expected. >>> # On Python 3, natsorted(a) would return the same results as sorted(a) >>> natsorted(a, key=as_utf8) == [b'a5', b'a6', b'a40', b'a56'] True Generating a Reusable Sorting Key and Sorting In-Place ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Under the hood, ``natsorted`` works by generating a custom sorting key using ``natsort_keygen`` and then passes that to the built-in ``sorted``. You can use the ``natsort_keygen`` function yourself to generate a custom sorting key to sort in-place using the ``list.sort`` method. .. code-block:: python >>> from natsort import natsort_keygen >>> natsort_key = natsort_keygen() >>> a = ['2 ft 7 in', '1 ft 5 in', '10 ft 2 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in'] >>> natsorted(a) == sorted(a, key=natsort_key) True >>> a.sort(key=natsort_key) >>> a ['1 ft 5 in', '2 ft 7 in', '2 ft 11 in', '7 ft 6 in', '10 ft 2 in'] All of the algorithm customizations mentioned in the `Further Customizing Natsort`_ section can also be applied to ``natsort_keygen`` through the *alg* keyword option. Other Useful Things +++++++++++++++++++ - recursively descend into lists of lists - automatic unicode normalization of input data - `controlling the case-sensitivity `_ - `sorting file paths correctly `_ - `allow custom sorting keys `_ Shell script ------------ ``natsort`` comes with a shell script called ``natsort``, or can also be called from the command line with ``python -m natsort``. Requirements ------------ ``natsort`` requires Python version 2.6 or greater or Python 3.3 or greater. It may run on (but is not tested against) Python 3.2. Optional Dependencies --------------------- fastnumbers +++++++++++ The most efficient sorting can occur if you install the `fastnumbers `_ package (version >=0.7.1); it helps with the string to number conversions. ``natsort`` will still run (efficiently) without the package, but if you need to squeeze out that extra juice it is recommended you include this as a dependency. ``natsort`` will not require (or check) that `fastnumbers `_ is installed at installation. PyICU +++++ It is recommended that you install `PyICU `_ if you wish to sort in a locale-dependent manner, see http://natsort.readthedocs.io/en/master/locale_issues.html for an explanation why. Installation ------------ Use ``pip``! .. code-block:: $ pip install natsort If you want to install the `Optional Dependencies`_, you can use the `"extras" notation `_ at installation time to install those dependencies as well - use ``fast`` for `fastnumbers `_ and ``icu`` for `PyICU `_. .. code-block:: # Install both optional dependencies. $ pip install natsort[fast,icu] # Install just fastnumbers $ pip install natsort[fast] How to Run Tests ---------------- Please note that ``natsort`` is NOT set-up to support ``python setup.py test``. The recommended way to run tests is with `tox `_. Suppose you want to run tests for Python 3.6 - you can run tests by simply executing the following: .. code-block:: $ tox -e py36 ``tox`` will create virtual a virtual environment for your tests and install all the needed testing requirements for you. If you want to run testing on all of Python 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6 you can simply execute .. code-block:: $ tox If you do not wish to use ``tox``, you can install the testing dependencies and run the tests manually using `pytest `_ - ``natsort`` contains a ``Pipfile`` for use with `pipenv `_ that makes it easy for you to install the testing dependencies: .. code-block:: $ pipenv install --dev $ pipenv install -e . # Optionally include dependencies as -e .[fast,icu] $ pipenv run pytest Author ------ Seth M. Morton History ------- Please visit the `changelog `_.