understanding sort() vs sorted() in python

Feature	sort()	sorted()
Works on	Lists only	Any iterable (lists, tuples, dictionaries, strings, etc.)
Returns	None	New sorted list
Modifies original?	Yes (in-place)	No
Usage	list.sort()	sorted(iterable)

sort() example

numbers = [4, 1, 3, 2]
numbers.sort()
print(numbers)  # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4]

sorted() example

numbers = [4, 1, 3, 2]
sorted_numbers = sorted(numbers)
print(sorted_numbers)  # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4]
print(numbers)         # Output: [4, 1, 3, 2] (unchanged)

With reverse and key arguments

key= → pass a function to sort by custom logic

words = ["banana", "apple", "cherry"]
# Sort by length
sorted_by_length = sorted(words, key=len)
print(sorted_by_length)  # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

# Sort in reverse
words.sort(reverse=True)
print(words)  # Output: ['cherry', 'banana', 'apple']