Newbie Question: Sort Tip: Why n=n?

[Joshua Muskovitz]

> def sortby(list, n):
>     nlist = map(lambda x, n=n: (x[n], x), list)
>     nlist.sort()
>     return map(lambda (key, x): x, nlist)
>
> I understand everything about this except the n=n in the second line.
> Does anyone know why this is required?

Because the lambda function does not have access to 'n' directly.  So it
declares a local 'n' that is set once at compile time to refer to the actual
n.  (Essentially it caches the value of 'n'.)

--
# Joshua Muskovitz
# joshm at taconic.net
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lyyrs('Hire me!  I need the work!')




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