list - Python Sorting and Organising -

i'm trying sort data file , not quiet getting need. have text file race details ( name placement( ie 1,2,3). able organize data highest placement first , alphabetically name. can if split lines name , score not match up.

any , suggestion welcomed, i've hit proverbial wall.

my apologies ( first time user site , , python noob, steep learning curve ) thank suggestions , appreciate help.

comp=[]  results = open('d:\\test.txt', 'r')   line in results:     line=line.split()     # (name,score)= line.split()     comp.append(line)     sorted(comp)  results.close() print (comp) 

test file in format:
jones 2
ranfel 7
peterson 5
smith 1
simons 9
roberts 4
mcdonald 3
rogers 6
elliks 8
helm 10

i agree has down-voted question being badly posed. however, i'm in mood i'll try , @ least steer in right direction:

let's assume text file looks this:

name,placement d,1 d,2 c,1 c,3 b,1 b,3 a,1 a,4 

i suggest importing data , sorting using pandas http://pandas.pydata.org/

import pandas pd  # read in data # replace <full_path_of file> c:/data/racedetails.csv # first row automatically used column names data=pd.read_csv("<full_path_of_file>")  # sort data sorted_data=data.sort(['placement','name'])  # create re-indexed data frame if desire sorted_data_new_index=sorted_data.reset_index(drop=true) 

this gives me:

name placement    1 b    1 c    1 d    1 d    2  b    3 c    3    4 

i'll leave figure out rest..