Array.Sort(Of T) Method (T())

 

Sorts the elements in an entire Array using the IComparable(Of T) generic interface implementation of each element of the Array.

Namespace:   System
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Public Shared Sub Sort(Of T) (
	array As T()
)

Parameters

array
Type: T()

The one-dimensional, zero-based Array to sort.

Type Parameters

T

The type of the elements of the array.

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

array is null.

InvalidOperationException

One or more elements in array do not implement the IComparable(Of T) generic interface.

Each element of array must implement the IComparable(Of T) generic interface to be capable of comparisons with every other element in array.

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 the Length of array.

The following code example demonstrates the Sort(Of T)(T()) generic method overload and theBinarySearch(Of T)(T(), T) generic method overload. An array of strings is created, in no particular order.

The array is displayed, sorted, and displayed again.

System_CAPS_noteNote

The calls to the Sort(Of T) and BinarySearch(Of T) generic methods do not look any different from calls to their nongeneric counterparts, because Visual Basic, C#, and C++ infer the type of the generic type parameter from the type of the first argument. If you use the Ildasm.exe (IL Disassembler) to examine the Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), you can see that the generic methods are being called.

The BinarySearch(Of T)(T(), T) generic method overload is then used to search for two strings, one that is not in the array and one that is. The array and the return value of the BinarySearch(Of T) method are passed to the ShowWhere generic method, which displays the index value if the string is found, and otherwise the elements the search string would fall between if it were in the array. The index is negative if the string is not n the array, so the ShowWhere method takes the bitwise complement (the ~ operator in C# and Visual C++, Xor -1 in Visual Basic) to obtain the index of the first element in the list that is larger than the search string.

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic

Public Class Example

    Public Shared Sub Main()

        Dim dinosaurs() As String = { _
            "Pachycephalosaurus", _
            "Amargasaurus", _
            "Tyrannosaurus", _
            "Mamenchisaurus", _
            "Deinonychus", _
            "Edmontosaurus"  }

        Console.WriteLine()
        For Each dinosaur As String In dinosaurs
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur)
        Next

        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Sort")
        Array.Sort(dinosaurs)

        Console.WriteLine()
        For Each dinosaur As String In dinosaurs
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur)
        Next

        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & _
            "BinarySearch for 'Coelophysis':")
        Dim index As Integer = _
            Array.BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Coelophysis")
        ShowWhere(dinosaurs, index)

        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & _
            "BinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus':")
        index = Array.BinarySearch(dinosaurs, "Tyrannosaurus")
        ShowWhere(dinosaurs, index)

    End Sub

    Private Shared Sub ShowWhere(Of T) _
        (ByVal array() As T, ByVal index As Integer) 

        If index < 0 Then
            ' If the index is negative, it represents the bitwise
            ' complement of the next larger element in the array.
            '
            index = index Xor -1

            Console.Write("Not found. Sorts between: ")

            If index = 0 Then
                Console.Write("beginning of array and ")
            Else
                Console.Write("{0} and ", array(index - 1))
            End If 

            If index = array.Length Then
                Console.WriteLine("end of array.")
            Else
                Console.WriteLine("{0}.", array(index))
            End If 
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("Found at index {0}.", index)
        End If

    End Sub

End Class

' This code example produces the following output:
'
'Pachycephalosaurus
'Amargasaurus
'Tyrannosaurus
'Mamenchisaurus
'Deinonychus
'Edmontosaurus
'
'Sort
'
'Amargasaurus
'Deinonychus
'Edmontosaurus
'Mamenchisaurus
'Pachycephalosaurus
'Tyrannosaurus
'
'BinarySearch for 'Coelophysis':
'Not found. Sorts between: Amargasaurus and Deinonychus.
'
'BinarySearch for 'Tyrannosaurus':
'Found at index 5.

Universal Windows Platform
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 2.0
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1
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