Sorted and change - shallow copy

Sorted creates a shallow copy of the original list

If the list elements are simple values that creates a copy

planets = ["Mercury", "Venus", "Earth"]
other_planets = planets
sorted_planets = sorted(planets)
planets[0] = "Jupiter"
print(planets)
print(other_planets)
print(sorted_planets)

['Jupiter', 'Venus', 'Earth']
['Jupiter', 'Venus', 'Earth']
['Earth', 'Mercury', 'Venus']

If some of the elements are complex structures (list, dictionaries, etc.) then the internal structures are not copied.
One can use copy.deepcopy to make sure the whole structure is separated, if that's needed.

examples/lists/sorted_and_change_deep.py

planets = [
    ["Mercury", 1],
    ["Venus", 2],
    ["Earth", 3],
    ["Earth", 2]
]
other_planets = planets
sorted_planets = sorted(planets)
print(sorted_planets)

planets[0][1] = 100
print(planets)
print(other_planets)
print(sorted_planets)

[['Earth', 2], ['Earth', 3], ['Mercury', 1], ['Venus', 2]]
[['Mercury', 100], ['Venus', 2], ['Earth', 3], ['Earth', 2]]
[['Mercury', 100], ['Venus', 2], ['Earth', 3], ['Earth', 2]]
[['Earth', 2], ['Earth', 3], ['Mercury', 100], ['Venus', 2]]