Find monotonic sequences in a list?

Question

I\'m new in Python but basically I want to create sub-groups of element from the list with a double loop, therefore I gonna compare the first element with the next to figure

Answer 1

No loop! Well at least, no explicit looping...

import itertools

def process(lst):
    # Guard clause against empty lists
    if len(lst) < 1:
        return lst

    # use a dictionary here to work around closure limitations
    state = { 'prev': lst[0], 'n': 0 }

    def grouper(x):
        if x < state['prev']:
            state['n'] += 1

        state['prev'] = x
        return state['n']

    return [ list(g) for k, g in itertools.groupby(lst, grouper) ]

Usage (work both with Python 2 & Python 3):

>>> data = [45,78,120,47,58,50,32,34]
>>> print (list(process(data)))
[[45, 78, 120], [47, 58], [50], [32, 34]]

Joke apart, if you need to group items in a list itertools.groupby deserves a little bit of attention. Not always the easiest/best answer -- but worth to make a try...

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EDIT: If you don't like closures -- and prefer using an object to hold the state, here is an alternative:

class process:
    def __call__(self, lst):
        if len(lst) < 1:
            return lst

        self.prev = lst[0]
        self.n = 0

        return [ list(g) for k, g in itertools.groupby(lst, self._grouper) ]

    def _grouper(self, x):
        if x < self.prev:
            self.n += 1

        self.prev = x
        return self.n



data = [45,78,120,47,58,50,32,34]
print (list(process()(data)))

---

EDIT2: Since I prefer closures ... but @torek don't like the dictionary syntax, here a third variation around the same solution:

import itertools

def process(lst):
    # Guard clause against empty lists
    if len(lst) < 1:
        return lst

    # use an object here to work around closure limitations
    state = type('State', (object,), dict(prev=lst[0], n=0))

    def grouper(x):
        if x < state.prev:
            state.n += 1

        state.prev = x
        return state.n

    return [ list(g) for k, g in itertools.groupby(lst, grouper) ]

data = [45,78,120,47,58,50,32,34]
print (list(process(data)))