How to sort a list of strings numerically?

Question

I know that this sounds trivial but I did not realize that the sort() function of Python was weird. I have a list of \"numbers\" that are actually in string for

Answer 1

The most recent solution is right. You are reading solutions as a string, in which case the order is 1, then 100, then 104 followed by 2 then 21, then 2001001010, 3 and so forth.

You have to CAST your input as an int instead:

sorted strings:

stringList = (1, 10, 2, 21, 3)

sorted ints:

intList = (1, 2, 3, 10, 21)

To cast, just put the stringList inside int ( blahblah ).

Again:

stringList = (1, 10, 2, 21, 3)

newList = int (stringList)

print newList

=> returns (1, 2, 3, 10, 21)