On Mar 13, 8:38 pm, Alan Isaac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Does this do it? :: > > key= lambda x: (-x[1],int(x2)) > > Here I am depending on the lexicographic sorting of tuples. > Without that there would be real trouble.
Close. :-) I think it needs to be something like: key = lambda x: (-x[0], int(x[1]) if x[0] == 0 else -int(x[1])) Relying on lexicographic sorting of tuples seems okay to me. What bugs me more about this example is that one has to rely on the existence of a way to negate the usual ordering. This is fine for numbers (where you can use the unary - operator) or for numeric strings (where you can convert to int and then use -), but it's not too much of a stretch to imagine cases where neither of those options is available (e.g. non-numeric strings), and where one ends up moving further and further from readable code and into the realm of arcane trickery... Mark -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
