def sort_by_indexes(lst, indexes, reverse=False): return [val for (_, val) in sorted(zip(indexes, lst), key=lambda x: \ x[0], reverse=reverse)] a = ['eggs', 'bread', 'oranges', 'jam', 'apples', 'milk'] b = [3, 2, 6, 4, 1, 5] sort_by_indexes(a, b) # ['apples', 'bread', 'eggs', 'jam', 'milk', 'oranges'] sort_by_indexes(a, b, True) # ['oranges', 'milk', 'jam', 'eggs', 'bread', 'apples']