System.Array.Sort Method

Sorts the elements in an entire one-dimensional Array using the IComparable implementation of each element of the Array.

Syntax

[System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.ReliabilityContract(System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.Consistency.MayCorruptInstance, System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.Cer.MayFail)]
public static void Sort (Array array)

Parameters

array
The one-dimensional Array to sort.

Exceptions

TypeReason
ArgumentNullException array is null.
RankException array has more than one dimension.
ArgumentExceptionOne or more elements in array do not implement the IComparable interface.
InvalidOperationExceptionOne or more elements in array that are used in a comparison do not implement the IComparable interface.

Remarks

Each element of array must implement the IComparable 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:

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 Array.Length of array.

Example

This example demonstrates the Array.Sort(Array) method.

C# Example

using System;
public class ArraySortExample {
   public static void Main() {
      string[] strAry = { "All's", "well", "that", "ends", "well" };
      Console.Write( "The original string array is: " );
      foreach ( String str in strAry )
         Console.Write( str + " " );
      Console.WriteLine();
      Array.Sort( strAry );
      Console.Write( "The sorted string array is: " );
      foreach ( string str in strAry )
         Console.Write( str + " " );
   }
}

The output is

The original string array is: All's well that ends well
The sorted string array is: All's ends that well well

Requirements

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Assembly Versions: 1.0.5000.0, 2.0.0.0, 4.0.0.0