Need a strange sort method...

[SpreadTooThin]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> On 10/16/06, Simon Brunning <simon at brunningonline.net> wrote:
> > >>> a = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
> > >>> a.sort(key=lambda item: (((item-1) %3), item))
> > >>> a
> > [1, 4, 7, 10, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9]
>
> Re-reading the OP's post, perhaps sorting isn't what's required:
>
> >>> a[::3] + a[1::3] + a[2::3]
> [1, 4, 7, 10, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9]
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Simon B
> simon at brunningonline.net
> http://www.brunningonline.net/simon/blog/

Ok so this is what I got.. but there is an odd side effect:

def reslice(series):
	series.sort()
	i = 1
	newseries = series[::3]
	while(1):
		c = series[i::3]
		if len(c) >= 3:
			newseries = newseries + c
		else:
			break
		i = i + 1
	return newseries

a = [2,1,4,3,6,5,8,7,10,9]
b = reslice(a)
print b
>>> [1, 4, 7, 10, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9, 4, 7, 10]

I have one extra 10 that I shouldn't...