python, sorting a list by a key that's a substring of each element

Question

Part of a programme builds this list,

[u'1 x Affinity for war', u'1 x Intellect', u'2 x Charisma', u'2 x Perception', u'3 x Population growth', u'4 x Affinity for the land', u'5 x Morale']

I'm currently trying to sort it alphabetically by the name of the evolution rather than by the number. Is there any way I can do this without just changing the order the two things appear in the list (as in 'intellect x 1)?

Answer 1

You have to get the "key" from the string.

def myKeyFunc( aString ):
    stuff, x, label = aString.partition(' x ')
    return label

aList.sort( key= myKeyFunc )