Sort

sort() vs sorted()

In [1]: a = [1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6, 8]

In [2]: sorted(a)
Out[2]: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

In [3]: a
Out[3]: [1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 7, 6, 8]

In [4]: a.sort()

In [5]: a
Out[5]: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

• Python has a stable sort. So it's safe to sort one by one.

References

[1] Wikis@Python, Sorting Mini-HOW TO