How do You Sort Lists of Strings Alphabetically in Python?

Sorting Lists of Strings in Python

Sorting a list of strings alphabetically in Python can be accomplished using various approaches.

In-Place Sorting

The sort() method modifies the existing list to sort it in-place. For instance:

mylist = ["b", "C", "A"]
mylist.sort()

Deep Copy Sorting

To create a sorted copy of the list while preserving the original, use the sorted() function:

for x in sorted(mylist):
    print(x)

Custom Sorting

To account for locale and case sensitivity, the sort() method allows for custom sorting orders using the key parameter. Here are a few examples:

Locale-Aware Sorting

To sort based on the current locale, use the locale.strcoll function:

import locale
from functools import cmp_to_key
sorted(mylist, key=cmp_to_key(locale.strcoll))

Custom Locale Sorting

To specify a custom locale for sorting, set the locale using locale.setlocale():

locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'en_US.UTF-8')
sorted((u'Ab', u'ad', u'aa'), key=cmp_to_key(locale.strcoll))

Case-Insensitive Sorting

While case-insensitive sorting may seem tempting, directly using lower() or str.lower as the key function is incorrect for non-ASCII characters.

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