How to sort a list in descending order in Python

We can use the sort() function to sort the list in descending order.

Syntax: list.sort(key=..., reverse=...)

• key – function that serves as a key for the sort comparison
• reverse – If True, the sorted list is in descending order

It doesn’t return any value. Rather, it changes the original list.

li = [4, 12, 5, 8, 1, 9]

li.sort(reverse=True)

print("The sorted list: ", li)

Output:

The sorted list:  [12, 9, 8, 5, 4, 1]

If you want to return the sorted list rather than change the original list, you can use sorted().

li = [4, 12, 5, 8, 1, 9]

print("Original list: ",li)

print("The sorted list: ", sorted(li, reverse = True))

Output:

Original list:  [4, 12, 5, 8, 1, 9]
The sorted list:  [12, 9, 8, 5, 4, 1]