I know for some of you it may be a silly question, but it is a confusion for me. how it works without assigning to a variable and how it's updated value is usable.
This code print sorted list
data=[23,11,32,89,52,99]
data.sort()
print(data)
It works in the same way as this code:
class Thing:
def __init__(self, value):
self.value = value
def modify(self):
self.value += 1
data = Thing(5)
print(data.value) # prints '5'
data.modify()
print(data.value) # prints '6'
Basically, it modifies the internal state of the object. The list object stores its values in some region of memory (that is, in some internal variable), and the sort method messes with this internal variable in such a way that the list's values are sorted.
Your variable, data, is a list. A list has a method called sort, which sorts the list and updates those values. You can see all methods by entering dir(data) or even directly on the data type dir(list).
This is different than the function sorted(), which sorts the list and returns the sorted value, but does not update the original list.
data=[23,11,32,89,52,99]
print(sorted(data)) # Returns sorted list
print(data) # Original is not modified
data.sort() # Modifies original
print(data)
That's because list.sort() method modifies the list in-place. Other method like sorted() will not modify the list. For example:
data=[23,11,32,89,52,99]
sorted(data)
print(data)
Out:
[23, 11, 32, 89, 52, 99]
Assigned:
data=[23,11,32,89,52,99]
data = sorted(data)
print(data)
Out:
[11, 23, 32, 52, 89, 99]
So it depends on how the method is structured. Hope it helps.
List is an object
class list(object):
"""
list() -> new empty list
list(iterable) -> new list initialized from iterable's items
"""
def append(self, p_object): # real signature unknown; restored from __doc__
""" L.append(object) -> None -- append object to end """
pass
def sort(self, key=None, reverse=False): # real signature unknown; restored from __doc__
""" L.sort(key=None, reverse=False) -> None -- stable sort *IN PLACE* """
pass
