使自定义类可订购

min，max 和 sorted 都需要可订购的物品。要获得适当的可订购，该类需要定义所有 6 种方法 __lt__，__gt__，__ge__，__le__，__ne__ 和 __eq__：

class IntegerContainer(object):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value
        
    def __repr__(self):
        return "{}({})".format(self.__class__.__name__, self.value)
    
    def __lt__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test less than {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value < other.value
    
    def __le__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test less than or equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value <= other.value

    def __gt__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test greater than {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value > other.value

    def __ge__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test greater than or equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value >= other.value

    def __eq__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value == other.value

    def __ne__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test not equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value != other.value

虽然实现所有这些方法似乎是不必要的，但省略其中一些将使你的代码容易出错 。

例子：

alist = [IntegerContainer(5), IntegerContainer(3),
         IntegerContainer(10), IntegerContainer(7)
        ]

res = max(alist)
# Out: IntegerContainer(3) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(10) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(7) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(10)
print(res)
# Out: IntegerContainer(10)

res = min(alist)   
# Out: IntegerContainer(3) - Test less than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(10) - Test less than IntegerContainer(3)
#      IntegerContainer(7) - Test less than IntegerContainer(3)
print(res)
# Out: IntegerContainer(3)

res = sorted(alist)
# Out: IntegerContainer(3) - Test less than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(10) - Test less than IntegerContainer(3)
#      IntegerContainer(10) - Test less than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(7) - Test less than IntegerContainer(5)
#      IntegerContainer(7) - Test less than IntegerContainer(10)
print(res)
# Out: [IntegerContainer(3), IntegerContainer(5), IntegerContainer(7), IntegerContainer(10)]

sorted 与 reverse=True 也使用 __lt__：

res = sorted(alist, reverse=True)
# Out: IntegerContainer(10) - Test less than IntegerContainer(7)
#      IntegerContainer(3) - Test less than IntegerContainer(10)
#      IntegerContainer(3) - Test less than IntegerContainer(10)
#      IntegerContainer(3) - Test less than IntegerContainer(7)
#      IntegerContainer(5) - Test less than IntegerContainer(7)
#      IntegerContainer(5) - Test less than IntegerContainer(3)
print(res)
# Out: [IntegerContainer(10), IntegerContainer(7), IntegerContainer(5), IntegerContainer(3)]

但是如果没有实现默认值，sorted 可以使用 __gt__：

del IntegerContainer.__lt__   # The IntegerContainer no longer implements "less than"

res = min(alist) 
# Out: IntegerContainer(5) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(3)
#      IntegerContainer(3) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(10)
#      IntegerContainer(3) - Test greater than IntegerContainer(7)
print(res)
# Out: IntegerContainer(3)

如果 __lt__ 和 __gt__ 都没有实现，那么排序方法将提升一个方法：

del IntegerContainer.__gt__   # The IntegerContainer no longer implements "greater then"

res = min(alist) 

TypeError：unorderable 类型：IntegerContainer()<IntegerContainer()

可以使用 functools.total_ordering 装饰器简化编写这些丰富的比较方法的工作量。如果你用 total_ordering 装饰你的类，你需要实现 __eq__，__ne__ 和 __lt__，__le__，__ge__ 或 __gt__ 中的一个，装饰器将填写其余部分：

import functools

@functools.total_ordering
class IntegerContainer(object):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value
        
    def __repr__(self):
        return "{}({})".format(self.__class__.__name__, self.value)
    
    def __lt__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test less than {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value < other.value
    
    def __eq__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value == other.value
    
    def __ne__(self, other):
        print('{!r} - Test not equal to {!r}'.format(self, other))
        return self.value != other.value

IntegerContainer(5) > IntegerContainer(6)
# Output: IntegerContainer(5) - Test less than IntegerContainer(6)
# Returns: False

IntegerContainer(6) > IntegerContainer(5)
# Output: IntegerContainer(6) - Test less than IntegerContainer(5)
# Output: IntegerContainer(6) - Test equal to IntegerContainer(5)
# Returns True

注意 >（ 大于 ）现在最终调用的是 less 方法，在某些情况下甚至是 __eq__ 方法。这也意味着如果速度非常重要，你应该自己实现每个丰富的比较方法。