System.Array.Sort Method

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 specified IComparer.

Syntax

[System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.ReliabilityContract(System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.Consistency.MayCorruptInstance, System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.Cer.MayFail)]
public static void Sort (Array keys, Array items, int index, int length, IComparer comparer)

Parameters

keys
The one-dimensional Array that contains the keys to sort.
items
The one-dimensional Array that contains the items that correspond to each of the keys in the keys Array.
index
The starting index of the range to sort.
length
The number of elements in the range to sort.
comparer
The IComparer implementation to use when comparing elements.

Exceptions

TypeReason
ArgumentNullException keys is null.
RankException

keys has more than one dimension.

-or-

items is not a null reference and has more than one dimension.

ArgumentOutOfRangeException

index < keys.GetLowerBound(0).

-or-

length < 0.

ArgumentException

items is not a null reference, and keys.GetLowerBound(0) does not equal items.GetLowerBound(0).

-or-

index and length do not specify a valid range in key.

-or-

items is not a null reference, and index and length do not specify a valid range in items.

InvalidOperationException comparer is null, and one or more elements in keys that are used in a comparison do not implement the IComparable interface.

Remarks

Each key in the keys Array has a corresponding item in the items Array. When a key is repositioned during the sorting, the corresponding item in the items Array is similarly repositioned. Therefore, the items Array is sorted according to the arrangement of the corresponding keys in the keys Array.

If comparer is null, each key within the specified range of elements in the keys Array 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:

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.

Requirements

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