Python: Selection sort

Last update on April 02 2025 05:26:09 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

5. Selection Sort

Write a Python program to sort a list of elements using the selection sort algorithm.
Note : The selection sort improves on the bubble sort by making only one exchange for every pass through the list.

Pictorial Presentation : Selection Sort

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

def selectionSort(nlist):
   for fillslot in range(len(nlist)-1,0,-1):
       maxpos=0
       for location in range(1,fillslot+1):
           if nlist[location]>nlist[maxpos]:
               maxpos = location

       temp = nlist[fillslot]
       nlist[fillslot] = nlist[maxpos]
       nlist[maxpos] = temp

nlist = [14,46,43,27,57,41,45,21,70]
selectionSort(nlist)
print(nlist)

Sample Output:

[14, 21, 27, 41, 43, 45, 46, 57, 70]

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a Python program to implement selection sort and print the index of each minimum element as it is selected.
• Write a Python script to sort a list using selection sort and count the number of comparisons made.
• Write a Python program to modify selection sort to sort a list of tuples based on the second element of each tuple.
• Write a Python function to perform selection sort and output the partially sorted list after every complete pass.

Python Code Editor :

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