Quick Sort in Python throwing RecursionError

Question

I've written below code for Quick Sort in Python but getting RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in comparison. While running another code of same logic it's running fine.

Below is code written by me-:

def partition(Arr,start,end):
    pivot=Arr[end]
    pindex=start

    for i in range(start,end):
        if Arr[i] <= pivot:                                         

            Arr[i],Arr[pindex] = Arr[pindex],Arr[i]                   
            pindex += 1

    #print("pindex",pindex)
    Arr[pindex],Arr[end]=Arr[end],Arr[pindex]                       
    return pindex


def QuickSort(Arr,start,end):

    if(start>=end):
        return Arr


    if (start<end):
        pindex=partition(Arr,start,end)                 


        QuickSort(Arr, start, pindex-1)                 

        QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)                   





Array = [10, 7, 8, 9, 1, 5]
start=0
end=len(Array)-1
sort_Arr=QuickSort(Array,start,end)
print ("Sorted array is: {}",sort_Arr)

and below is the code from GeeksforGeeks which runs fine:

# This function takes last element as pivot, places
# the pivot element at its correct position in sorted
# array, and places all smaller (smaller than pivot)
# to left of pivot and all greater elements to right
# of pivot
def partition(arr,low,high):
    i = ( low-1 )         # index of smaller element
    pivot = arr[high]     # pivot

    for j in range(low , high):

        # If current element is smaller than or
        # equal to pivot
        if   arr[j] <= pivot:

            # increment index of smaller element
            i = i+1
            arr[i],arr[j] = arr[j],arr[i]

    arr[i+1],arr[high] = arr[high],arr[i+1]
    return ( i+1 )

# The main function that implements QuickSort
# arr[] --> Array to be sorted,
# low  --> Starting index,
# high  --> Ending index

# Function to do Quick sort
def quickSort(arr,low,high):
    if low < high:

        # pi is partitioning index, arr[p] is now
        # at right place
        pi = partition(arr,low,high)

        # Separately sort elements before
        # partition and after partition
        quickSort(arr, low, pi-1)
        quickSort(arr, pi+1, high)

Following is the Traceback-:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "QuickSort.py", line 55, in <module>
    sort_Arr=QuickSort(Array,start,end)
  File "QuickSort.py", line 46, in QuickSort
    QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)                   #Sorting Array elements after pivot point which are value>pivot
  File "QuickSort.py", line 44, in QuickSort
    QuickSort(Arr, start, pindex-1)                 #Sorting Array elements before pivot point which are value<=pivot
  File "QuickSort.py", line 46, in QuickSort
    QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)                   #Sorting Array elements after pivot point which are value>pivot
  File "QuickSort.py", line 46, in QuickSort
    QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)                   #Sorting Array elements after pivot point which are value>pivot
  File "QuickSort.py", line 46, in QuickSort
    QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)                   #Sorting Array elements after pivot point which are value>pivot
  [Previous line repeated 990 more times]
  File "QuickSort.py", line 41, in QuickSort
    pindex=partition(Arr,start,end)                 #Calculating partition Index point by calling partition Function
  File "QuickSort.py", line 22, in partition
    for i in range(start,end):
RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in comparison

Can anyone please help me with this? Why is my code not running? Any suggestion are appreciated.

Janne Karila Janne Karila · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-14T12:26:04

You have chosen to represent a range in the array by start,end where end is the index of the last element. Hence this code

    QuickSort(Arr, start, pindex-1)                 
    QuickSort(Arr, pindex-1, end)

does not divide the array in two disjoint parts -- pindex-1 will be in both parts, and the recursion will not terminate because the size of the second part never goes to one.

A better convention is to have end point to just after the last element. Dijkstra can explain why in more detail.

Quick Sort in Python throwing RecursionError

1 Answers