Array.Sort Method (Array, Array, Int32, Int32)
Sorts a range of elements in a pair of one-dimensional Array objects (one contains the keys and the other contains the corresponding items) based on the keys in the first Array using the IComparable implementation of each key.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Parameters
- keys
-
Type:
System.Array
The one-dimensional Array that contains the keys to sort.
- items
-
Type:
System.Array
The one-dimensional Array that contains the items that correspond to each of the keys in the keysArray.
-or-
null to sort only the keysArray.
- index
-
Type:
System.Int32
The starting index of the range to sort.
- length
-
Type:
System.Int32
The number of elements in the range to sort.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentNullException | keys is null. |
| RankException | |
| ArgumentOutOfRangeException | index is less than the lower bound of keys. -or- length is less than zero. |
| ArgumentException | |
| InvalidOperationException | One or more elements in the keysArray do not implement the IComparable interface. |
Each key in the keysArray has a corresponding item in the itemsArray. When a key is repositioned during the sorting, the corresponding item in the itemsArray is similarly repositioned. Therefore, the itemsArray is sorted according to the arrangement of the corresponding keys in the keysArray.
Each key within the specified range of elements in the keysArray must implement the IComparable interface to be capable of comparisons with every other key.
You can sort if there are more items than keys, but the items that have no corresponding keys will not be sorted. You cannot sort if there are more keys than items; doing this throws an ArgumentException.
If the sort is not successfully completed, the results are undefined.
This method uses the introspective sort (introsort) algorithm as follows:
If the partition size is fewer than 16 elements, it uses an insertion sort algorithm.
If the number of partitions exceeds 2 * LogN, where N is the range of the input array, it uses a Heapsort algorithm.
Otherwise, it uses a Quicksort algorithm.
This implementation performs an unstable sort; that is, if two elements are equal, their order might not be preserved. In contrast, a stable sort preserves the order of elements that are equal.
For arrays that are sorted by using the Heapsort and Quicksort algorithms, in the worst case, this method is an O(n log n) operation, where n is length.
The following code example shows how to sort two associated arrays where the first array contains the keys and the second array contains the values. Sorts are done using the default comparer and a custom comparer that reverses the sort order. Note that the result might vary depending on the current CultureInfo.
Available since 10
.NET Framework
Available since 1.1