Don't sort functions by default

[clemisch]

By default, functions are sorted by name in printout. I would expect/prefer if they were listed in the order I specify them with %lprun -f fun_b -f fun_a. Currently, the printout lists them in alphabetic order fun_a, fun_b. The sorting happens here. It can't be deactivated. I wonder why it's being sorted alphabetically in the first place?

Context: If I'm profiling multiple functions with long bodies each (common in scientific code...) the output would be easier to navigate if it was in my specified order. This is for "explorative" profiling of a large library where I don't know the bottlenecks beforehand.

Example:

%load_ext line_profiler

def fun_a(x):
    return 2 * x

def fun_b(x):
    return x / 2

def fun_c(x):
    return fun_a(x) + fun_b(x)

%lprun -f fun_b -f fun_a fun_c(1)

Output: fun_a, fun_b contrary to specified order

Timer unit: 1e-09 s

Total time: 1.362e-06 s
File: /tmp/ipykernel_219762/2627384258.py
Function: fun_a at line 3

Line #      Hits         Time  Per Hit   % Time  Line Contents
==============================================================
     3                                           def fun_a(x):
     4         1       1362.0   1362.0    100.0      return 2 * x

Total time: 9.12e-07 s
File: /tmp/ipykernel_219762/2627384258.py
Function: fun_b at line 6

Line #      Hits         Time  Per Hit   % Time  Line Contents
==============================================================
     6                                           def fun_b(x):
     7         1        912.0    912.0    100.0      return x / 2

Expected output: fun_b, fun_a matching specified order

Timer unit: 1e-09 s

Total time: 9.12e-07 s
File: /tmp/ipykernel_219762/2627384258.py
Function: fun_b at line 6

Line #      Hits         Time  Per Hit   % Time  Line Contents
==============================================================
     6                                           def fun_b(x):
     7         1        912.0    912.0    100.0      return x / 2

Total time: 1.362e-06 s
File: /tmp/ipykernel_219762/2627384258.py
Function: fun_a at line 3

Line #      Hits         Time  Per Hit   % Time  Line Contents
==============================================================
     3                                           def fun_a(x):
     4         1       1362.0   1362.0    100.0      return 2 * x

[Erotemic]

I wonder why it's being sorted alphabetically in the first place?

I think that is legacy behavior. This package is quite old and used to be around in the pre 3.7 days, which meant dictionaries did not maintain order by default. So sorting was likely a way of achieving a consistent ordering. Now, I think it makes sense to remove this.

Please submit a PR that changes this and notes it in the changelog. I think this should be a minor version bump rather than a patch version bump.

[clemisch]

Thanks for the quick reply! Legacy dict reason makes sense. I wanted to ask here first but I'm very happy to submit a PR.