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Fix introsort heap fallback ignoring range boundaries - #15435

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Miladkhoshdel wants to merge 2 commits into
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Miladkhoshdel:fix/introsort-heap-fallback-range
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Miladkhoshdel wants to merge 2 commits into
TheAlgorithms:masterfrom
Miladkhoshdel:fix/introsort-heap-fallback-range

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Describe your change

  • Add an algorithm?
  • Fix a bug or typo in an existing algorithm?
  • Add or change doctests? -- Note: Please avoid changing both code and tests in a single pull request.
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Fixes #15434

When intro_sort() reaches its depth limit, its heap-sort fallback sorts the entire list instead of the requested [start:end] range. This moves elements outside the range.

Apply heap sort only to the selected slice and write it back into the original list. Add two pytest regression cases covering immediate fallback and fallback after partitioning. Existing doctests remain unchanged.

For example, sorting indices 1 through 4 of [100, 4, 3, 2, 1, -100] should produce [100, 1, 2, 3, 4, -100]. Previously, the fallback produced [-100, 1, 2, 3, 4, 100].

Validation:

  • Both regression cases failed before the fix and passed afterward.
  • Sorting tests and introsort doctests: 368 passed.
  • Direct introsort doctest run: 41 passed.
  • Repository-wide pre-commit checks passed.

Checklist

  • I have read CONTRIBUTING.md.
  • This pull request is all my own work -- I have not plagiarized.
  • I know that pull requests will not be merged if they fail the automated tests.
  • This PR only changes one algorithm file. To ease review, please open separate PRs for separate algorithms.
  • All new Python files are placed inside an existing directory.
  • All filenames are in all lowercase characters with no spaces or dashes.
  • All functions and variable names follow Python naming conventions.
  • All function parameters and return values are annotated with Python type hints.
  • All functions have doctests that pass the automated testing.
  • All new algorithms include at least one URL that points to Wikipedia or another similar explanation.
  • If this pull request resolves one or more open issues, then the description above includes the issue number(s) with a closing keyword: "Fixes #ISSUE-NUMBER".

@algorithms-keeper algorithms-keeper Bot added awaiting reviews This PR is ready to be reviewed enhancement This PR modified some existing files labels Sep 25, 2026

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intro_sort heap-sort fallback ignores start and end boundaries

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