gistfile1.txt

#!/usr/bin/env python

def radix(arr):

   # Finds max string length to calculate indexes to work on
   max_len = 0
   for x in arr:
      if len(x) > max_len:
         max_len = len(x)

   work_list = arr
   # Works on indexes in reverse
   for index in range(max_len, -1, -1):
      # Set up one extra radix index to include the "0" character, for strings that are shorter than the longest, so we can sort accordingly
      radix_list = [[] for x in range(0,27)] # Set up emtpy list
      for x in work_list:
         # We have a short string, or unknown character, push to 0 char spot
         if index >= len(x) or not x[-1].isalpha():
            radix_list[0].append(x)
         else:
            radix_list[ord(x[index]) - ord('a') + 1 if x[index].islower() else ord(x[index]) - ord('A') + 1].append(x) 
      work_list = [] # Reset our work list
      for x in radix_list:
         work_list.extend(x)
   return work_list

elems = ["rat", "mop", "cat", "map", "car", "top", "cot", "tar", "rap"]
elems = radix(elems)
print elems