Issue #13742: Add key and reverse parameters to heapq.merge()

Doc/glossary.rst

@@ -444,12 +444,13 @@ Glossary
 
       A number of tools in Python accept key functions to control how elements
       are ordered or grouped.  They include :func:`min`, :func:`max`,
-      :func:`sorted`, :meth:`list.sort`, :func:`heapq.nsmallest`,
-      :func:`heapq.nlargest`, and :func:`itertools.groupby`.
+      :func:`sorted`, :meth:`list.sort`, :func:`heapq.merge`,
+      :func:`heapq.nsmallest`, :func:`heapq.nlargest`, and
+      :func:`itertools.groupby`.
 
       There are several ways to create a key function.  For example. the
       :meth:`str.lower` method can serve as a key function for case insensitive
-      sorts.  Alternatively, an ad-hoc key function can be built from a
+      sorts.  Alternatively, a key function can be built from a
       :keyword:`lambda` expression such as ``lambda r: (r[0], r[2])``.  Also,
       the :mod:`operator` module provides three key function constructors:
       :func:`~operator.attrgetter`, :func:`~operator.itemgetter`, and

Doc/library/heapq.rst

@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ The following functions are provided:
 The module also offers three general purpose functions based on heaps.
 
 
-.. function:: merge(*iterables)
+.. function:: merge(*iterables, key=None, reverse=False)
 
    Merge multiple sorted inputs into a single sorted output (for example, merge
    timestamped entries from multiple log files).  Returns an :term:`iterator`
@@ -91,6 +91,18 @@ The module also offers three general purpose functions based on heaps.
    not pull the data into memory all at once, and assumes that each of the input
    streams is already sorted (smallest to largest).
 
+   Has two optional arguments which must be specified as keyword arguments.
+
+   *key* specifies a :term:`key function` of one argument that is used to
+   extract a comparison key from each input element.  The default value is
+   ``None`` (compare the elements directly).
+
+   *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the input elements
+   are merged as if each comparison were reversed.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
+      Added the optional *key* and *reverse* parameters.
+
 
 .. function:: nlargest(n, iterable, key=None)
 

Lib/heapq.py

@@ -176,6 +176,16 @@ def heapify(x):
     for i in reversed(range(n//2)):
         _siftup(x, i)
 
+def _heappop_max(heap):
+    """Maxheap version of a heappop."""
+    lastelt = heap.pop()    # raises appropriate IndexError if heap is empty
+    if heap:
+        returnitem = heap[0]
+        heap[0] = lastelt
+        _siftup_max(heap, 0)
+        return returnitem
+    return lastelt
+
 def _heapreplace_max(heap, item):
     """Maxheap version of a heappop followed by a heappush."""
     returnitem = heap[0]    # raises appropriate IndexError if heap is empty
@@ -311,7 +321,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-def merge(*iterables):
+def merge(*iterables, key=None, reverse=False):
     '''Merge multiple sorted inputs into a single sorted output.
 
     Similar to sorted(itertools.chain(*iterables)) but returns a generator,
@@ -321,31 +331,73 @@ def merge(*iterables):
     >>> list(merge([1,3,5,7], [0,2,4,8], [5,10,15,20], [], [25]))
     [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25]
 
+    If *key* is not None, applies a key function to each element to determine
+    its sort order.
+
+    >>> list(merge(['dog', 'horse'], ['cat', 'fish', 'kangaroo'], key=len))
+    ['dog', 'cat', 'fish', 'horse', 'kangaroo']
+
     '''
 
     h = []
     h_append = h.append
+
+    if reverse:
+        _heapify = _heapify_max
+        _heappop = _heappop_max
+        _heapreplace = _heapreplace_max
+        direction = -1
+    else:
+        _heapify = heapify
+        _heappop = heappop
+        _heapreplace = heapreplace
+        direction = 1
+
+    if key is None:
+        for order, it in enumerate(map(iter, iterables)):
+            try:
+                next = it.__next__
+                h_append([next(), order * direction, next])
+            except StopIteration:
+                pass
+        _heapify(h)
+        while len(h) > 1:
+            try:
+                while True:
+                    value, order, next = s = h[0]
+                    yield value
+                    s[0] = next()           # raises StopIteration when exhausted
+                    _heapreplace(h, s)      # restore heap condition
+            except StopIteration:
+                _heappop(h)                 # remove empty iterator
+        if h:
+            # fast case when only a single iterator remains
+            value, order, next = h[0]
+            yield value
+            yield from next.__self__
+        return
+
     for order, it in enumerate(map(iter, iterables)):
         try:
             next = it.__next__
-            h_append([next(), order, next])
+            value = next()
+            h_append([key(value), order * direction, value, next])
         except StopIteration:
             pass
-    heapify(h)
-
-    _heapreplace = heapreplace
+    _heapify(h)
     while len(h) > 1:
         try:
             while True:
-                value, order, next = s = h[0]
+                key_value, order, value, next = s = h[0]
                 yield value
-                s[0] = next()           # raises StopIteration when exhausted
-                _heapreplace(h, s)      # restore heap condition
+                value = next()
+                s[0] = key(value)
+                s[2] = value
+                _heapreplace(h, s)
         except StopIteration:
-            heappop(h)                  # remove empty iterator
+            _heappop(h)
     if h:
-        # fast case when only a single iterator remains
-        value, order, next = h[0]
+        key_value, order, value,  next = h[0]
         yield value
         yield from next.__self__
 

Lib/test/test_heapq.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import unittest
 
 from test import support
 from unittest import TestCase, skipUnless
+from operator import itemgetter
 
 py_heapq = support.import_fresh_module('heapq', blocked=['_heapq'])
 c_heapq = support.import_fresh_module('heapq', fresh=['_heapq'])
@@ -152,11 +153,21 @@ class TestHeap:
 
     def test_merge(self):
         inputs = []
-        for i in range(random.randrange(5)):
-            row = sorted(random.randrange(1000) for j in range(random.randrange(10)))
+        for i in range(random.randrange(25)):
+            row = []
+            for j in range(random.randrange(100)):
+                tup = random.choice('ABC'), random.randrange(-500, 500)
+                row.append(tup)
             inputs.append(row)
-        self.assertEqual(sorted(chain(*inputs)), list(self.module.merge(*inputs)))
-        self.assertEqual(list(self.module.merge()), [])
+
+        for key in [None, itemgetter(0), itemgetter(1), itemgetter(1, 0)]:
+            for reverse in [False, True]:
+                seqs = []
+                for seq in inputs:
+                    seqs.append(sorted(seq, key=key, reverse=reverse))
+                self.assertEqual(sorted(chain(*inputs), key=key, reverse=reverse),
+                                 list(self.module.merge(*seqs, key=key, reverse=reverse)))
+                self.assertEqual(list(self.module.merge()), [])
 
     def test_merge_does_not_suppress_index_error(self):
         # Issue 19018: Heapq.merge suppresses IndexError from user generator

Misc/NEWS

@@ -94,6 +94,9 @@ Library
   error bubble up as this "bad data" appears in many real world zip files in
   the wild and is ignored by other zip tools.
 
+- Issue #13742:  Added "key" and "reverse" parameters to heapq.merge().
+  (First draft of patch contributed by Simon Sapin.)
+
 - Issue #21402: tkinter.ttk now works when default root window is not set.
 
 - Issue #3015: _tkinter.create() now creates tkapp object with wantobject=1 by