python · Marius-Juston · Feb 1, 2026 · Feb 1, 2026 · Feb 1, 2026 · Feb 1, 2026
diff --git a/Doc/howto/sorting.rst b/Doc/howto/sorting.rst
@@ -400,6 +400,11 @@ library provides several tools that do less work than a full sort:
   respectively.  These functions make a single pass over the input data and
   require almost no auxiliary memory.
 
+* :func:`minmax` returns both the smallest and largest values,
+  respectively. This functions make a single pass over the input data and
+  require almost no auxiliary memory. This function is useful if both :meth:`min` and
+  :meth:`max` need to be called and thus is more efficient for larger datasets.
+
 * :func:`heapq.nsmallest` and :func:`heapq.nlargest` return
   the *n* smallest and largest values, respectively.  These functions
   make a single pass over the data keeping only *n* elements in memory

diff --git a/Doc/library/functions.rst b/Doc/library/functions.rst
@@ -1295,6 +1295,28 @@ are always available.  They are listed here in alphabetical order.
    .. versionchanged:: 3.8
       The *key* can be ``None``.
 
+.. function:: minmax(iterable, /, *, key=None)
+              minmax(iterable, /, *, default, key=None)
+              minmax(arg1, arg2, /, *args, key=None)
+
+   Return the smallest and largest items respectively in an iterable or the smallest and largest
+   of two or more arguments.
+
+   If one positional argument is provided, it should be an :term:`iterable`.
+   The smallest and largest items in the iterable are returned.  If two or more positional
+   arguments are provided, the smallest and largest of the positional arguments are
+   returned.
+
+   There are two optional keyword-only arguments. The *key* argument specifies
+   a one-argument ordering function like that used for :meth:`list.sort`. The
+   *default* argument specifies an object to return if the provided iterable is
+   empty. If the iterable is empty and *default* is not provided, a
+   :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
+
+   If multiple items are minimal / maximal, the function returns the first one
+   encountered.  This is consistent with other sort-stability preserving tools
+   such as ``(sorted(iterable, key=keyfunc)[0], sorted(iterable, key=keyfunc)[-1])``
+   and ``(heapq.nsmallest(1,iterable, key=keyfunc), heapq.nlargest(1,iterable, key=keyfunc))``.
 
 .. function:: next(iterator, /)
               next(iterator, default, /)

diff --git a/Lib/test/test_builtin.py b/Lib/test/test_builtin.py
@@ -1630,6 +1630,72 @@ def __getitem__(self, index):
         self.assertEqual(min(data, key=f),
                          sorted(data, key=f)[0])
 
+
+    def test_minmax(self):
+        self.assertEqual(minmax('123123'), ('1', '3'))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(1, 2, 3), (1, 3))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3)), (1, 3))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax([1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]), (1, 3))
+
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(1, 2, 3.0), (1, 3.0))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(1, 2.0, 3), (1, 3))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(1.0, 2, 3), (1.0, 3))
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                TypeError,
+                'minmax expected at least 1 argument, got 0'
+        ):
+            minmax()
+
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, minmax, 42)
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                ValueError,
+                r'minmax\(\) iterable argument is empty'
+        ):
+            minmax(())
+        class BadSeq:
+            def __getitem__(self, index):
+                raise ValueError
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, minmax, BadSeq())
+
+        for stmt in (
+                "minmax(key=int)",                 # no args
+                "minmax(default=None)",
+                "minmax(1, 2, default=None)",      # require container for default
+                "minmax(default=None, key=int)",
+                "minmax(1, key=int)",              # single arg not iterable
+                "minmax(1, 2, keystone=int)",      # wrong keyword
+                "minmax(1, 2, key=int, abc=int)",  # two many keywords
+                "minmax(1, 2, key=1)",             # keyfunc is not callable
+        ):
+            try:
+                exec(stmt, globals())
+            except TypeError:
+                pass
+            else:
+                self.fail(stmt)
+
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1,), key=neg), (1, 1))     # one elem iterable
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1,2), key=neg),(2, 1))    # two elem iterable
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(1, 2, key=neg), (2, 1))     # two elems
+
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((), default=None), (None, None))    # zero elem iterable
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1,), default=None), (1, 1))     # one elem iterable
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1,2), default=None), (1, 2))    # two elem iterable
+
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((), default=1, key=neg), (1, 1))
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1, 2), default=1, key=neg), (2, 1))
+
+        self.assertEqual(minmax((1, 2), key=None), (1, 2))
+
+        data = [random.randrange(200) for i in range(100)]
+        keys = dict((elem, random.randrange(50)) for elem in data)
+        f = keys.__getitem__
+
+        sorted_vals = sorted(data, key=f)
+        self.assertEqual(minmax(data, key=f),
+                         (sorted_vals[0], sorted_vals[-1]))
+
     def test_next(self):
         it = iter(range(2))
         self.assertEqual(next(it), 0)

diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-01-15-31-11.gh-issue-144382.EyosHQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-02-01-15-31-11.gh-issue-144382.EyosHQ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+This creates a new builtin function called ``minmax``, which does work similar
+to the functions ``min`` and ``max``; however, is more efficient than running
+``min`` and then ``max`` and computes the smallest and largest elements of the
+iterable in a single pass; rather than 2 passes.
@@ -2114,6 +2114,176 @@ the provided iterable is empty.\n\
 With two or more positional arguments, return the largest argument.");
 
 
+static PyObject *
+builtin_minmax(PyObject *self, PyObject *const *args, Py_ssize_t nargs, PyObject *kwnames)
+{
+    PyObject *it = NULL, *item, *val, *maxitem, *maxval, *minitem, *minval, *minmax_obj, *keyfunc=NULL;
+    PyObject *defaultval = NULL;
+    static const char * const keywords[] = {"key", "default", NULL};
+    static _PyArg_Parser _parser = {"|$OO:minmax", keywords, 0};
+
+    if (nargs == 0) {
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError, "minmax expected at least 1 argument, got 0");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (kwnames != NULL && !_PyArg_ParseStackAndKeywords(args + nargs, 0, kwnames, &_parser,
+                                                         &keyfunc, &defaultval)) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    const int positional = nargs > 1; // False iff nargs == 1
+    if (positional && defaultval != NULL) {
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
+                        "Cannot specify a default for minmax() with multiple "
+                        "positional arguments");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (!positional) {
+        it = PyObject_GetIter(args[0]);
+        if (it == NULL) {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (keyfunc == Py_None) {
+        keyfunc = NULL;
+    }
+
+    maxitem = NULL; /* the max result */
+    maxval = NULL;  /* the value associated with the max result */
+
+    minitem = NULL; /* the min result */
+    minval = NULL;  /* the value associated with the min result */
+
+    while (1) {
+        if (it == NULL) {
+            if (nargs-- <= 0) {
+                break;
+            }
+            item = *args++;
+            Py_INCREF(item);
+        }
+        else {
+            item = PyIter_Next(it);
+            if (item == NULL) {
+                if (PyErr_Occurred()) {
+                    goto Fail_it;
+                }
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        /* get the value from the key function */
+        if (keyfunc != NULL) {
+            val = PyObject_CallOneArg(keyfunc, item);
+            if (val == NULL)
+                goto Fail_it_item;
+        }
+        /* no key function; the value is the item */
+        else {
+            val = Py_NewRef(item);
+        }
+
+        /* minimum/maximum value and item are unset; set them */
+        if (maxval == NULL || minval == NULL) {
+            maxitem = item;
+            maxval = val;
+
+            minitem = Py_NewRef(item);
+            minval = Py_NewRef(val);
+        }
+        /* minimum/maximum value and item are set; update them as necessary */
+        else {
+            /* check for new minimum value */
+            const int cmp_lt = PyObject_RichCompareBool(val, minval, Py_LT);
+
+            if (cmp_lt < 0) {
+                goto Fail_it_item_and_val;
+            }
+
+            if (cmp_lt > 0) {
+                Py_DECREF(minitem);
+                Py_DECREF(minval);
+
+                minval = val;
+                minitem = item;
+            } else {
+                /* Since we did not get a new minimum it could be a new maximum instead */
+                const int cmp_gt = PyObject_RichCompareBool(val, maxval, Py_GT);
+
+                if (cmp_gt < 0) {
+                    goto Fail_it_item_and_val;
+                }
+
+                if(cmp_gt > 0) {
+                    Py_DECREF(maxitem);
+                    Py_DECREF(maxval);
+
+                    maxval = val;
+                    maxitem = item;
+                }
+                else {
+                    Py_DECREF(item);
+                    Py_DECREF(val);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    if (maxval == NULL || minval == NULL) {
+        assert(maxitem == NULL);
+        assert(minitem == NULL);
+        if (defaultval != NULL) {
+            maxitem = Py_NewRef(defaultval);
+            minitem = Py_NewRef(defaultval);
+        } else {
+            PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError,
+                         "minmax() iterable argument is empty");
+
+            goto Fail_it;
+        }
+    }else {
+        Py_DECREF(maxval);
+        Py_DECREF(minval);
+    }
+
+    Py_XDECREF(it);
+
+    if ((minmax_obj = PyTuple_New(2)) == NULL) {
+        goto Fail_it;
+    }
+
+    PyTuple_SET_ITEM(minmax_obj, 0, minitem);
+    PyTuple_SET_ITEM(minmax_obj, 1, maxitem);
+
+    return minmax_obj;
+
+Fail_it_item_and_val:
+    Py_DECREF(val);
+Fail_it_item:
+    Py_DECREF(item);
+Fail_it:
+    Py_XDECREF(maxval);
+    Py_XDECREF(maxitem);
+
+    Py_XDECREF(minval);
+    Py_XDECREF(minitem);
+
+    Py_XDECREF(it);
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+PyDoc_STRVAR(minmax_doc,
+"minmax(iterable, *[, default=obj, key=func]) -> (min_value, max_value)\n\
+minmax(arg1, arg2, *args, *[, key=func]) -> (min_value, max_value)\n\
+\n\
+With a single iterable argument, return both its smallest and biggest item. The\n\
+default keyword-only argument specifies an object to return if\n\
+the provided iterable is empty.\n\
+With two or more positional arguments, return the smallest and largest argument.");
+
+
 /*[clinic input]
 oct as builtin_oct
 
@@ -3392,6 +3562,7 @@ static PyMethodDef builtin_methods[] = {
     BUILTIN_LOCALS_METHODDEF
     {"max", _PyCFunction_CAST(builtin_max), METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS, max_doc},
     {"min", _PyCFunction_CAST(builtin_min), METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS, min_doc},
+    {"minmax", _PyCFunction_CAST(builtin_minmax), METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS, minmax_doc},
     {"next", _PyCFunction_CAST(builtin_next), METH_FASTCALL, next_doc},
     BUILTIN_ANEXT_METHODDEF
     BUILTIN_OCT_METHODDEF