from bisect import bisect_left

def binary_search(a, x, lo=0, hi=None):  # can't use a to specify default for hi
    hi = hi if hi is not None else len(a)  # hi defaults to len(a)   
    pos = bisect_left(a, x, lo, hi)  # find insertion position
    return pos if pos != hi and a[pos] == x else -1  # don't walk off the end