How can I get 2.x-like sorting behaviour in Python 3.x?

Question

I\'m trying to replicate (and if possible improve on) Python 2.x\'s sorting behaviour in 3.x, so that mutually orderable types like int, float etc.

Answer 1

@martijn-pieters I don't know if list in python2 also has a __cmp__ to handle comparing list objects or how it was handled in python2.

Anyway, in addition to the @martijn-pieters's answer, I used the following list comparator, so at least it doesn't give different sorted output based on different order of elements in the same input set.

@per_type_cmp(list) def list_cmp(a, b): for a_item, b_item in zip(a, b): if a_item == b_item: continue return python2_sort_key(a_item) < python2_sort_key(b_item) return len(a) < len(b)

So, joining it with original answer by Martijn:

from numbers import Number


# decorator for type to function mapping special cases
def per_type_cmp(type_):
    try:
        mapping = per_type_cmp.mapping
    except AttributeError:
        mapping = per_type_cmp.mapping = {}
    def decorator(cmpfunc):
        mapping[type_] = cmpfunc
        return cmpfunc
    return decorator


class python2_sort_key(object):
    _unhandled_types = {complex}

    def __init__(self, ob):
       self._ob = ob

    def __lt__(self, other):
        _unhandled_types = self._unhandled_types
        self, other = self._ob, other._ob  # we don't care about the wrapper

        # default_3way_compare is used only if direct comparison failed
        try:
            return self < other
        except TypeError:
            pass

        # hooks to implement special casing for types, dict in Py2 has
        # a dedicated __cmp__ method that is gone in Py3 for example.
        for type_, special_cmp in per_type_cmp.mapping.items():
            if isinstance(self, type_) and isinstance(other, type_):
                return special_cmp(self, other)

        # explicitly raise again for types that won't sort in Python 2 either
        if type(self) in _unhandled_types:
            raise TypeError('no ordering relation is defined for {}'.format(
                type(self).__name__))
        if type(other) in _unhandled_types:
            raise TypeError('no ordering relation is defined for {}'.format(
                type(other).__name__))

        # default_3way_compare from Python 2 as Python code
        # same type but no ordering defined, go by id
        if type(self) is type(other):
            return id(self) < id(other)

        # None always comes first
        if self is None:
            return True
        if other is None:
            return False

        # Sort by typename, but numbers are sorted before other types
        self_tname = '' if isinstance(self, Number) else type(self).__name__
        other_tname = '' if isinstance(other, Number) else type(other).__name__

        if self_tname != other_tname:
            return self_tname < other_tname

        # same typename, or both numbers, but different type objects, order
        # by the id of the type object
        return id(type(self)) < id(type(other))


@per_type_cmp(dict)
def dict_cmp(a, b, _s=object()):
    if len(a) != len(b):
        return len(a) < len(b)
    adiff = min((k for k in a if a[k] != b.get(k, _s)), key=python2_sort_key, default=_s)
    if adiff is _s:
        # All keys in a have a matching value in b, so the dicts are equal
        return False
    bdiff = min((k for k in b if b[k] != a.get(k, _s)), key=python2_sort_key)
    if adiff != bdiff:
        return python2_sort_key(adiff) < python2_sort_key(bdiff)
    return python2_sort_key(a[adiff]) < python2_sort_key(b[bdiff])

@per_type_cmp(list)
def list_cmp(a, b):
    for a_item, b_item in zip(a, b):
        if a_item == b_item:
            continue
        return python2_sort_key(a_item) < python2_sort_key(b_item)
    return len(a) < len(b)

PS: It makes more sense to create it as an comment but I didn't have enough reputation to make a comment. So, I'm creating it as an answer instead.