Efficiently get the top k largest elements from a large list without fully sorting it. Which is best?

Problem Statement

Explanation

heapq.nlargest uses a small heap of size k and runs faster than sorting everything when k is much smaller than n. Full sorts are O(n log n). nlargest runs in O(n log k).

Code Solution

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import heapq
best = heapq.nlargest(3, [5,1,8,4,9])

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Efficiently get the top k largest elements from a large list without fully sorting it. Which is best?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

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Efficiently get the top k largest elements from a large list without fully sorting it. Which is best?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

Related Questions

Is Python compiled, interpreted, or both?

Which of these joins two lists to make one new list?

Which loop runs until a condition becomes false?

Which method gives the floor value of a float?

In Python, what is the difference between '/' and '//'?

More from Python

Master Interviews
Anywhere, Anytime