Index: Doc/lib/libfunctools.tex
===================================================================
--- Doc/lib/libfunctools.tex	(revision 53779)
+++ Doc/lib/libfunctools.tex	(working copy)
@@ -17,8 +17,15 @@
 be treated as a function for the purposes of this module.
 
 
-The \module{functools} module defines the following function:
+The \module{functools} module defines the following functions:
 
+\begin{funcdesc}{compose}{*functions}
+Returns a new function such that \code{compose(a,b,c)(arg1, arg2, arg3)}
+is equivalent to \code{a(b(c(arg1, arg2, arg3)))}
+
+\versionadded{2.6}
+\end{funcdesc}
+
 \begin{funcdesc}{partial}{func\optional{,*args}\optional{, **keywords}}
 Return a new \class{partial} object which when called will behave like
 \var{func} called with the positional arguments \var{args} and keyword
Index: Lib/test/test_functools.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_functools.py	(revision 53779)
+++ Lib/test/test_functools.py	(working copy)
@@ -267,7 +267,36 @@
         self.assertEqual(wrapper.dict_attr, f.dict_attr)
 
 
+class TestCompose(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_single_value(self):
+        def a(v):
+            return v*v
+        def b(v):
+            return v+2
+        c = functools.compose(a,b)
+        self.assertEqual(c(5), 49)
 
+        c = functools.compose(b,a)
+        self.assertEqual(c(5), 27)
+
+    def test_multiple_values(self):
+        def a(v):
+            return v+2
+        def b(x,y):
+            return x*y
+        c = functools.compose(a,b)
+        self.assertEqual(c(5,6), 32)
+
+    def test_keyword_values(self):
+        def a(v):
+            return v+2
+        def b(x,y):
+            return x
+        c = functools.compose(a,b)
+        self.assertEqual(c(y=5,x=6), 8)
+        self.assertEqual(c(x=5,y=6), 7)
+
+
 def test_main(verbose=None):
     import sys
     test_classes = (
@@ -275,7 +304,8 @@
         TestPartialSubclass,
         TestPythonPartial,
         TestUpdateWrapper,
-        TestWraps
+        TestWraps,
+        TestCompose
     )
     test_support.run_unittest(*test_classes)
 
Index: Lib/functools.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/functools.py	(revision 53779)
+++ Lib/functools.py	(working copy)
@@ -49,3 +49,14 @@
     """
     return partial(update_wrapper, wrapped=wrapped,
                    assigned=assigned, updated=updated)
+
+def compose(*funcs):
+    """Returns a function such that compose(a,b,c)(arg1, arg2, arg3)
+       is equivalent to a(b(c(arg1, arg2, arg3)))."""
+    def _composefunc(*args, **kw):
+        l = reversed(funcs)
+        rv = l.next()(*args, **kw)
+        for f in l:
+            rv = f(rv)
+        return rv
+    return _composefunc