How to sort tuple with python by using specific rules

Note that Python already sorts tuples naturally, first sorting on the first element, then the second element, etc. That means that if we can create a tuple which reflects the appropriate ranking of your elements, we can simply sort using that tuple as a key.

To convert your sorting pattern to a tuple, treat the presence of 'V' as negative infinity, and otherwise use the number.

Last, we can use conveniences of Python like zip and re to reduce the lines of code to get there.

import re
from math import inf
def sorted_tuples(string_list):
    def rank(chunk):
        if 'V' in chunk:
            return -inf
        return int(re.findall(r"\d+", chunk)[0])

    items = [(word, word.split('-')) for (word,) in string_list]
    keys = [(word, rank(chunks[1]), rank(chunks[2])) for (word, chunks) in items]
    keys.sort(key=lambda x: (x[1], x[2]))
    return list(zip(*keys))[0]


print(sorted_tuples([
     ('site-nfv01-swsto01V',), 
     ('site-nfv01-swsto01',),
     ('site-nfv01-swsto02',),
     ('site-nfv02-swsto01V',), 
     ('site-nfv02-swsto01',) , 
     ('site-nfv02-swsto02',)]))

# Outputs:
# ('site-nfv01-swsto01V', 
#     'site-nfv01-swsto01', 
#     'site-nfv01-swsto02', 
#     'site-nfv02-swsto01V', 
#     'site-nfv02-swsto01', 
#     'site-nfv02-swsto02'
# )

Or, for a one-liner (don't do this!):

lambda string_list: list(zip(*sorted([(word, list(map(lambda x: -inf \
     if 'V' in x else int(re.findall(r"\d+", x)[0]), word.split('-') \
     [1:]))) for (word,) in string_list], key=lambda x: x[1])))[0]

The best way would be to use key argument for sorted function.

from docs:

The value of the key parameter should be a function that takes a single argument and returns a key to use for sorting purposes. This technique is fast because the key function is called exactly once for each input record.

to sort your list of codes I would do something like this:

your_list = [('site-nfv01-swsto01',), ('site-nfv01-swsto01V',),('site-nfv01-swsto02',),('site-nfv02-swsto02',), ('site-nfv02-swsto01',) , ('site-nfv02-swsto01V',)]
#sort using key parameter
#key must be a function that returns a new value to be sorted
#this particular key function checks if 'V' is at the last position, 
#leaves the code unchanged if true,
#else adds arbitrary string at the end of the code that will cause the code to be sorted after codes with the same content at the beginning but lacking the 'V'
#in this case I chose 'z' which comes after 'v' in the alphabet
sorted_list = sorted(your_list, key=lambda code: code[0] if code[0][-1] == 'V'  else code[0]+'z')

If you don't know how lambda expressions work check out the docs.

I found it way clearer to make a standalone keying function:

#!/usr/bin/env python

lst = [
    ("site-nfv01-swsto01",),
    ("site-nfv01-swsto01V",),
    ("site-nfv01-swsto02",),
    ("site-nfv02-swsto02",),
    ("site-nfv02-swsto01",),
    ("site-nfv02-swsto01V",),
]


def my_key(item):
    """Return a tuple that can be used for ordering the item."""

    first, middle, last = item[0].split("-")

    # For the middle part, what we really care about is the int after the "nfv" string.
    middle_int = int(middle[3:])

    # For the last part, we mostly care about the int after the "swsto" string...
    last_value = last[5:]

    # ...but not quite. Let's make sure that items with a trailing "V" sort lower than ones without
    # a "V".
    if last_value.endswith("V"):
        last_tuple = int(last_value[:-1]), "V"
    else:
        last_tuple = int(last_value), "z"

    # Python sorts tuples one component at a time, so return a tuple that can be compared against
    # the tuples generated for other values.
    return first, middle_int, last_tuple


# For demonstration purposes, show the sorting key generated for each item in the list.
for item in lst:
    print(item, my_key(item))

# Use that sorting key to actually sort the list.
print(sorted(lst, key=my_key))

This lets you be super explicit about how the sorting key is generated, as is vastly easier to test.