CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonsorting
bvdabjorn
bvdabjorn

Reputation: 69

Sort an integer list in Python

I'm a beginner programmer and I'm trying to make an exercise.

I want to sort an integer list, but every time I run my code, the list is not sorted. I've tried it in a couple of different ways with sorted() or .sort(), but nothing seems to help.

def main():

    _list1_ = []
    _list2_ = []

    print("Enter random numbers and enter Q to quit: ")
    userInput1 = input("")
    while userInput1.upper() != "Q":
        _list1_.append(int(userInput1))
        userInput1 = input("")

    print("Enter random numbers and enter Q to quit:")
    userInput2 = input("")
    while userInput2.upper() != "Q":
        _list2_.append(int(userInput2))
        userInput2 = input("")

    sorted(_list1_)
    sorted(_list2_)

    print(_list1_)

main()

Upvotes: 0

Views: 6168

Answers (3)

Sendoa
Sendoa

Reputation: 106

sorted() doesn't sort the list in place. It returns the sorted list, so you will need to change the 2 sorted() calls to something like this:

_list1_ = sorted(_list1_)
_list2_ = sorted(_list2_)

It's always a good idea to read the documentation to get an understanding for how the functions work. Here is the docs for sorted https://docs.python.org/2/library/functions.html#sorted

Upvotes: 9

Mark Skelton
Mark Skelton

Reputation: 3891

sorted returns the sorted list whereas sort performs the sort in place.

So you could either do:

_list1_ = sorted(_list_)

or:

_list1_.sort()

If you were to use sort (my preferred method) your code would look like this:

def main():

    _list1_ = []
    _list2_ = []

    print("Enter random numbers and enter Q to quit: ")
    userInput1 = input("")
    while userInput1.upper() != "Q":
        _list1_.append(int(userInput1))
        userInput1 = input("")

    print("Enter random numbers and enter Q to quit:")
    userInput2 = input("")
    while userInput2.upper() != "Q":
        _list2_.append(int(userInput2))
        userInput2 = input("")

    _list1_.sort()
    _list2_.sort()

    print(_list1_)

main()

Upvotes: 3

Eular
Eular

Reputation: 1807

sorted(_list1_)

returns a list after sorting list1, It does not sort the list1. so write 

print(sorted(_list1_))

or assign the sorted list1 to list1, like 

_list1_ = sorted(_list1_)

Upvotes: 0

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