"""Provides functionality for taking in an iterable that returns names and then
separates them by last name initial and sorts them."""
import itertools
def groupnames(name_iterable):
"""Return a dict keyed by last name initial with a value of a tuple of the
names sorted by last first name.
The items returned by name_iterable are expected to be strings containing
the names formatted as ``first middle last`` with middle being optional.
>>> groupnames(('Anna Martelli', 'Alex Martelli', 'Todd Cannon', 'Gwen C',
... 'John Doe'))
{'C': ('Gwen C', 'Todd Cannon'), 'M': ('Alex Martelli', 'Anna Martelli'), 'D': ('John Doe',)}
"""
sorted_names = sorted(name_iterable, key=sortkeyfunc)
name_dict = {}
for key, group in itertools.groupby(sorted_names, groupkeyfunc):
name_dict[key] = tuple(group)
return name_dict
def sortkeyfunc(name):
"""Return name in last-first-middle order"""
name_parts = name.split()
new_name = ' '.join((name_parts[-1], name_parts[0]))
if len(name_parts) == 3:
new_name = ' '.join((new_name, name_parts[1]))
return new_name
def groupkeyfunc(name):
"""Return the last name initial"""
return name.split()[-1][0]
if __name__ == '__main__':
import doctest
doctest.testmod()
