Python: How to custom order a list?

Question

Obs: I know lists in python are not order-fixed, but think that this one will be. And I\'m using Python 2.4

I have a list, like (for example) this one:

Answer 1

More generally, there could be elements of the mylist that are not in the specified fixed order. This will order according to the rule, but leave alone the relative order of everything outside of the rule:

def orderListByRule(alist,orderRule,listKeys=None,dropIfKey=None):
    ###
    #######################################################################################
    """ Reorder alist according to the order specified in orderRule. The orderRule lists the order to be imposed on a set of keys. The keys are alist, if listkeys==None, or listkeys otherwise.  That is, the length of listkeys must be the same as of alist. That is, listkeys are the tags on alist which determine the ordering.  orderRule is a list of those same keys and maybe more which specifies the desired ordering.
    There is an optional dropIfKey which lists keys of items that should be dropped outright.
    """
    maxOR = len(orderRule)
    orDict = dict(zip(orderRule, range(maxOR)))
    alDict = dict(zip(range(maxOR, maxOR+len(alist)),
                      zip(alist if listKeys is None else listKeys, alist)))
    outpairs = sorted(  [[orDict.get(b[0],a),(b)] for a,b in alDict.items()]  )
    if dropIfKey is None: dropIfKey=[]
    outL = [b[1] for a,b in outpairs if b[0] not in dropIfKey]
    return outL

def test_orderListByRule():
    L1 = [1,2,3,3,5]
    L2 = [3,4,5,10]
    assert orderListByRule(L1, L2) == [3, 3, 5, 1, 2]
    assert orderListByRule(L1, L2, dropIfKey=[2,3]) == [5, 1,]
    Lv = [c for c in 'abcce']
    assert orderListByRule(Lv, L2, listKeys=L1) == ['c', 'c', 'e', 'a', 'b']
    assert orderListByRule(Lv, L2, listKeys=L1, dropIfKey=[2,3]) == ['e','a']