> list = [2,5,8,9,3] 
> list 
[2,5,8,9,3] 
> list.sort() 
> list 
[2, 3, 5, 8, 9]

> list = [2,5,8,9,3] 
> list 
[2,5,8,9,3] 
> sorted(list) 
[2, 3, 5, 8, 9]

>L = [2,3,1,4]
>L.sort()
>L
>[1,2,3,4]

>L = [2,3,1,4]
>L.sort(reverse=True)
>L
>[4,3,2,1]

>L = [('b',6),('a',1),('c',3),('d',4)]
>L.sort(lambda x,y:cmp(x[1],y[1])) 
>L
>[('a', 1), ('c', 3), ('d', 4), ('b', 6)]

>L = [('b',6),('a',1),('c',3),('d',4)]
>L.sort(key=lambda x:x[1]) 
>L
>[('a', 1), ('c', 3), ('d', 4), ('b', 6)]

>L = [('b',2),('a',1),('c',3),('d',4)]
>import operator
>L.sort(key=operator.itemgetter(1)) 
>L
>[('a', 1), ('b', 2), ('c', 3), ('d', 4)]

>L = [('b',2),('a',1),('c',3),('d',4)]
>A = [(x[1],i,x) for i,x in enumerate(L)] #i can confirm the stable sort
>A.sort()
>L = [s[2] for s in A]
>L
>[('a', 1), ('b', 2), ('c', 3), ('d', 4)]

>L = [('d',2),('a',4),('b',3),('c',2)]
> L.sort(key=lambda x:x[1])
> L
>[('d', 2), ('c', 2), ('b', 3), ('a', 4)]

> L = [('d',2),('a',4),('b',3),('c',2)]
> L.sort(key=lambda x:(x[1],x[0]))
> L
>[('c', 2), ('d', 2), ('b', 3), ('a', 4)]

> L = [('d',2),('a',4),('b',3),('c',2)]
> L.sort(key=operator.itemgetter(1,0))
> L
>[('c', 2), ('d', 2), ('b', 3), ('a', 4)]