Issue #1771: Remove cmp parameter from list.sort() and builtin.sorted().

Doc/library/functions.rst

@@ -959,31 +959,20 @@ available.  They are listed here in alphabetical order.
    ``a[start:stop:step]`` or ``a[start:stop, i]``.
 
 
-.. function:: sorted(iterable[, cmp[, key[, reverse]]])
+.. function:: sorted(iterable[, key[, reverse]])
 
    Return a new sorted list from the items in *iterable*.
 
-   The optional arguments *cmp*, *key*, and *reverse* have the same meaning as
+   The optional arguments *key* and *reverse* have the same meaning as
    those for the :meth:`list.sort` method (described in section
    :ref:`typesseq-mutable`).
 
-   *cmp* specifies a custom comparison function of two arguments (iterable
-   elements) which should return a negative, zero or positive number depending on
-   whether the first argument is considered smaller than, equal to, or larger than
-   the second argument: ``cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())``.  The default
-   value is ``None``.
-
    *key* specifies a function of one argument that is used to extract a comparison
    key from each list element: ``key=str.lower``.  The default value is ``None``.
 
    *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the list elements are
    sorted as if each comparison were reversed.
 
-   In general, the *key* and *reverse* conversion processes are much faster than
-   specifying an equivalent *cmp* function.  This is because *cmp* is called
-   multiple times for each list element while *key* and *reverse* touch each
-   element only once.
-
 
 .. function:: staticmethod(function)
 

Doc/library/stdtypes.rst

@@ -1266,8 +1266,7 @@ Note that while lists allow their items to be of any type, bytearray object
 | ``s.reverse()``              | reverses the items of *s* in   | \(6)                |
 |                              | place                          |                     |
 +------------------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------+
-| ``s.sort([cmp[, key[,        | sort the items of *s* in place | (6), (7)            |
-| reverse]]])``                |                                |                     |
+| ``s.sort([key[, reverse]])`` | sort the items of *s* in place | (6), (7)            |
 +------------------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------+
 
 .. index::
@@ -1321,23 +1320,12 @@ Notes:
    The :meth:`sort` method takes optional arguments for controlling the
    comparisons.
 
-   *cmp* specifies a custom comparison function of two arguments (list items) which
-   should return a negative, zero or positive number depending on whether the first
-   argument is considered smaller than, equal to, or larger than the second
-   argument: ``cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())``.  The default value
-   is ``None``.
-
    *key* specifies a function of one argument that is used to extract a comparison
    key from each list element: ``key=str.lower``.  The default value is ``None``.
 
    *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the list elements are
    sorted as if each comparison were reversed.
 
-   In general, the *key* and *reverse* conversion processes are much faster than
-   specifying an equivalent *cmp* function.  This is because *cmp* is called
-   multiple times for each list element while *key* and *reverse* touch each
-   element only once.
-
    Starting with Python 2.3, the :meth:`sort` method is guaranteed to be stable.  A
    sort is stable if it guarantees not to change the relative order of elements
    that compare equal --- this is helpful for sorting in multiple passes (for

Lib/cookielib.py

@@ -1255,8 +1255,7 @@ class CookieJar:
 
         """
         # add cookies in order of most specific (ie. longest) path first
-        def decreasing_size(a, b): return cmp(len(b.path), len(a.path))
-        cookies.sort(decreasing_size)
+        cookies.sort(key=lambda a: len(a.path), reverse=True)
 
         version_set = False
 

Lib/pstats.py

@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class Stats:
             stats_list.append((cc, nc, tt, ct) + func +
                               (func_std_string(func), func))
 
-        stats_list.sort(TupleComp(sort_tuple).compare)
+        stats_list.sort(key=CmpToKey(TupleComp(sort_tuple).compare))
 
         self.fcn_list = fcn_list = []
         for tuple in stats_list:
@@ -470,6 +470,16 @@ class TupleComp:
                 return direction
         return 0
 
+def CmpToKey(mycmp):
+    'Convert a cmp= function into a key= function'
+    class K(object):
+        def __init__(self, obj):
+            self.obj = obj
+        def __lt__(self, other):
+            return mycmp(self.obj, other.obj) == -1
+    return K
+
+
 #**************************************************************************
 # func_name is a triple (file:string, line:int, name:string)
 

Lib/test/list_tests.py

@@ -8,6 +8,15 @@ import os
 import unittest
 from test import test_support, seq_tests
 
+def CmpToKey(mycmp):
+    'Convert a cmp= function into a key= function'
+    class K(object):
+        def __init__(self, obj):
+            self.obj = obj
+        def __lt__(self, other):
+            return mycmp(self.obj, other.obj) == -1
+    return K
+
 class CommonTest(seq_tests.CommonTest):
 
     def test_init(self):
@@ -430,23 +439,21 @@ class CommonTest(seq_tests.CommonTest):
 
         def revcmp(a, b):
             return cmp(b, a)
-        u.sort(revcmp)
+        u.sort(key=CmpToKey(revcmp))
         self.assertEqual(u, self.type2test([2,1,0,-1,-2]))
 
         # The following dumps core in unpatched Python 1.5:
         def myComparison(x,y):
             return cmp(x%3, y%7)
         z = self.type2test(range(12))
-        z.sort(myComparison)
+        z.sort(key=CmpToKey(myComparison))
 
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, z.sort, 2)
 
         def selfmodifyingComparison(x,y):
             z.append(1)
             return cmp(x, y)
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, z.sort, selfmodifyingComparison)
-
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, z.sort, lambda x, y: 's')
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, z.sort, key=CmpToKey(selfmodifyingComparison))
 
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, z.sort, 42, 42, 42, 42)
 

Lib/test/test_builtin.py

@@ -1764,9 +1764,6 @@ class TestSorted(unittest.TestCase):
 
         data.reverse()
         random.shuffle(copy)
-        self.assertEqual(data, sorted(copy, cmp=lambda x, y: (x < y) - (x > y)))
-        self.assertNotEqual(data, copy)
-        random.shuffle(copy)
         self.assertEqual(data, sorted(copy, key=lambda x: -x))
         self.assertNotEqual(data, copy)
         random.shuffle(copy)

Lib/test/test_sort.py

@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ import unittest
 verbose = test_support.verbose
 nerrors = 0
 
+def CmpToKey(mycmp):
+    'Convert a cmp= function into a key= function'
+    class K(object):
+        def __init__(self, obj):
+            self.obj = obj
+        def __lt__(self, other):
+            return mycmp(self.obj, other.obj) == -1
+    return K
+
 def check(tag, expected, raw, compare=None):
     global nerrors
 
@@ -14,7 +23,7 @@ def check(tag, expected, raw, compare=None):
 
     orig = raw[:]   # save input in case of error
     if compare:
-        raw.sort(compare)
+        raw.sort(key=CmpToKey(compare))
     else:
         raw.sort()
 
@@ -99,7 +108,7 @@ class TestBase(unittest.TestCase):
                 print("    Checking against an insane comparison function.")
                 print("        If the implementation isn't careful, this may segfault.")
             s = x[:]
-            s.sort(lambda a, b:  int(random.random() * 3) - 1)
+            s.sort(key=CmpToKey(lambda a, b:  int(random.random() * 3) - 1))
             check("an insane function left some permutation", x, s)
 
             x = [Complains(i) for i in x]
@@ -141,14 +150,6 @@ class TestBugs(unittest.TestCase):
         L = [C() for i in range(50)]
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, L.sort)
 
-    def test_cmpNone(self):
-        # Testing None as a comparison function.
-
-        L = list(range(50))
-        random.shuffle(L)
-        L.sort(None)
-        self.assertEqual(L, list(range(50)))
-
     def test_undetected_mutation(self):
         # Python 2.4a1 did not always detect mutation
         memorywaster = []
@@ -158,12 +159,12 @@ class TestBugs(unittest.TestCase):
                 L.pop()
                 return cmp(x, y)
             L = [1,2]
-            self.assertRaises(ValueError, L.sort, mutating_cmp)
+            self.assertRaises(ValueError, L.sort, key=CmpToKey(mutating_cmp))
             def mutating_cmp(x, y):
                 L.append(3)
                 del L[:]
                 return cmp(x, y)
-            self.assertRaises(ValueError, L.sort, mutating_cmp)
+            self.assertRaises(ValueError, L.sort, key=CmpToKey(mutating_cmp))
             memorywaster = [memorywaster]
 
 #==============================================================================
@@ -175,11 +176,11 @@ class TestDecorateSortUndecorate(unittest.TestCase):
         copy = data[:]
         random.shuffle(data)
         data.sort(key=str.lower)
-        copy.sort(cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower()))
+        copy.sort(key=CmpToKey(lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())))
 
     def test_baddecorator(self):
         data = 'The quick Brown fox Jumped over The lazy Dog'.split()
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, data.sort, None, lambda x,y: 0)
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, data.sort, key=lambda x,y: 0)
 
     def test_stability(self):
         data = [(random.randrange(100), i) for i in range(200)]
@@ -188,25 +189,11 @@ class TestDecorateSortUndecorate(unittest.TestCase):
         copy.sort()                     # sort using both fields
         self.assertEqual(data, copy)    # should get the same result
 
-    def test_cmp_and_key_combination(self):
-        # Verify that the wrapper has been removed
-        def compare(x, y):
-            self.assertEqual(type(x), str)
-            self.assertEqual(type(x), str)
-            return cmp(x, y)
-        data = 'The quick Brown fox Jumped over The lazy Dog'.split()
-        data.sort(cmp=compare, key=str.lower)
-
-    def test_badcmp_with_key(self):
-        # Verify that the wrapper has been removed
-        data = 'The quick Brown fox Jumped over The lazy Dog'.split()
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, data.sort, "bad", str.lower)
-
     def test_key_with_exception(self):
         # Verify that the wrapper has been removed
         data = list(range(-2, 2))
         dup = data[:]
-        self.assertRaises(ZeroDivisionError, data.sort, None, lambda x: 1/x)
+        self.assertRaises(ZeroDivisionError, data.sort, key=lambda x: 1/x)
         self.assertEqual(data, dup)
 
     def test_key_with_mutation(self):
@@ -254,14 +241,13 @@ class TestDecorateSortUndecorate(unittest.TestCase):
         random.shuffle(data)
         data.sort(reverse=True)
         self.assertEqual(data, list(range(99,-1,-1)))
-        self.assertRaises(TypeError, data.sort, "wrong type")
 
     def test_reverse_stability(self):
         data = [(random.randrange(100), i) for i in range(200)]
         copy1 = data[:]
         copy2 = data[:]
-        data.sort(cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x[0],y[0]), reverse=True)
-        copy1.sort(cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(y[0],x[0]))
+        data.sort(key=CmpToKey(lambda x,y: cmp(x[0],y[0])), reverse=True)
+        copy1.sort(key=CmpToKey(lambda x,y: cmp(y[0],x[0])))
         self.assertEqual(data, copy1)
         copy2.sort(key=lambda x: x[0], reverse=True)
         self.assertEqual(data, copy2)

Misc/NEWS

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 
 - Issue #1973: bytes.fromhex('') raises SystemError
 
+- Issue #1771: remove cmp parameter from sorted() and list.sort()
+
 - Issue #1969: split and rsplit in bytearray are inconsistent
 
 - map() and itertools.imap() no longer accept None for the first argument.

Python/bltinmodule.c

@@ -1494,14 +1494,14 @@ Precision may be negative.");
 static PyObject *
 builtin_sorted(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
-	PyObject *newlist, *v, *seq, *compare=NULL, *keyfunc=NULL, *newargs;
+	PyObject *newlist, *v, *seq, *keyfunc=NULL, *newargs;
 	PyObject *callable;
-	static char *kwlist[] = {"iterable", "cmp", "key", "reverse", 0};
+	static char *kwlist[] = {"iterable", "key", "reverse", 0};
 	int reverse;
 
-	/* args 1-4 should match listsort in Objects/listobject.c */
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|OOi:sorted",
-		kwlist, &seq, &compare, &keyfunc, &reverse))
+	/* args 1-3 should match listsort in Objects/listobject.c */
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|Oi:sorted",
+		kwlist, &seq, &keyfunc, &reverse))
 		return NULL;
 
 	newlist = PySequence_List(seq);
@@ -1533,7 +1533,7 @@ builtin_sorted(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(sorted_doc,
-"sorted(iterable, cmp=None, key=None, reverse=False) --> new sorted list");
+"sorted(iterable, key=None, reverse=False) --> new sorted list");
 
 static PyObject *
 builtin_vars(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)