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up vote 1 down vote favorite

suppose I have a custom function such as 

def greater(a, b):
    if (a % b) % 2 == 0:
        return 1
    return 0

It defines how to compare two numbers and determine which is greater. In this case, if the function returns 1 a > b else, a < b. Can I use inbuilt <built-in function sorted> orto create a sorted array of numbers with respect to this definition?

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1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

If you're using Python 2.x, then that's easily achievable by using cmp, although you have to modify your function to return -1 instead of 0. Something like this:

def greater(a, b):
    if (a % b) % 2 == 0:
        return 1
    return -1

x = [2,7,5,10,30,15]

print(sorted(x, cmp=greater))

But if you're using Python 3.x, then it gets a bit more complicated since cmp was removed. My best idea is to implement a class to hold the number and override the comparison operators __lt__ (less than) and __gt__ (greater than). Something like this:

class my_int(int):
    def __lt__(a,b):
        return (a % b) % 2 != 0
    def __gt__(a,b):        
        return (a % b) % 2 == 0

x = [my_int(2),my_int(7),my_int(5),my_int(10),my_int(30),my_int(15)]

print (sorted(x))
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this is exactly what I was looking for! thanks I"m using python 2.7.2 –  user5198 Jun 1 '12 at 0:40
2  
I still can't believe removal of cmp was deemed a good idea for 3.x... –  Izkata Jun 1 '12 at 2:19
1  
@Izkata - Yeah a lot of the stuff done in the name of the all powerful Pythonic "only one way of doing things" just don't make sense to me. –  System Down Jun 1 '12 at 4:13

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