Python solution follows (earlier one with an error cancelled). All crossposting removed since crossposting is a standard trolling tactic.
from collections import defaultdict def collect(xss): d = defaultdict(list) for xs in xss: d[xs[0]].extend(xs[1:]) return list(v for k,v in sorted(d.items())) y = [[0,'a','b'], [1,'c','d'], [2,'e','f'], [3,'g','h'], [1,'i','j'], [2,'k','l'], [4,'m','n'], [2,'o','p'], [4,'q','r'], [5,'s','t']] print collect(y) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list