list.sort(): heaviest item?

[Steven Clark]

If I have a list of items of mixed type, can I put something into it
such that after a list.sort(), is guaranteed to be at the end of the
list?

Looking at http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.5/ref/comparisons.html
"Most other types compare unequal unless they are the same object; the
choice whether one object is considered smaller or larger than another
one is made arbitrarily but consistently within one execution of a
program."

makes me unsure.

It looks like "None" always ends up at the start ("lightest"), but I
want the opposite ("heaviest").

-Steven

 

[Diez B. Roggisch]

If I have a list of items of mixed type, can I put something into it
such that after a list.sort(), is guaranteed to be at the end of the
list?

Looking at http://www.python.org/doc/2.3.5/ref/comparisons.html
"Most other types compare unequal unless they are the same object; the
choice whether one object is considered smaller or larger than another
one is made arbitrarily but consistently within one execution of a
program."

makes me unsure.

It looks like "None" always ends up at the start ("lightest"), but I
want the opposite ("heaviest").

You can pass a cmp-function that will always make one object being greater
than all others.

Diez

 

[Steven Clark]

You can pass a cmp-function that will always make one object being greater

than all others.

Diez
--

Yeah, I figured it out 2 minutes after I posted, d'oh!

class Anvil(object):
def __cmp__(self. other):
return 1

Sorry for the wasted space.

 

[Raymond Hettinger]

If I have a list of items of mixed type, can I put something into it
such that after a list.sort(), is guaranteed to be at the end of the
list?

Since the other guys gave you the real answer, how about this:

sentinel = object()
mylist.sort()
mylist.append(sentinel)

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