Sorting Techniques

Sorting refers to arranging data in a particular format. Sorting algorithm

specifies the way to arrange data in a particular order. Most common
orders are in numerical or lexicographical order.

The importance of sorting lies in the fact that data searching can be
optimized to a very high level, if data is stored in a sorted manner.
Sorting is also used to represent data in more readable formats.
Following are some of the examples of sorting in real-life scenarios −

 Telephone Directory − The telephone directory stores the telephone

numbers of people sorted by their names, so that the names can be
searched easily.

 Dictionary − The dictionary stores words in an alphabetical order so that

searching of any word becomes easy.

Stable and Not Stable Sorting

If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, does not change the
sequence of similar content in which they appear, it is called stable
sorting.

If a sorting algorithm, after sorting the contents, changes the sequence

of similar content in which they appear, it is called unstable sorting.
 Bubble Sort Algorithm
How Bubble Sort Works?
We take an unsorted array for our example. Bubble sort takes Ο(n2) time
so we're keeping it short and precise.

Bubble sort starts with very first two elements, comparing them to check
which one is greater.

In this case, value 33 is greater than 14, so it is already in sorted

locations. Next, we compare 33 with 27.

We find that 27 is smaller than 33 and these two values must be

swapped.

The new array should look like this −

Next we compare 33 and 35. We find that both are in already sorted
positions.

Then we move to the next two values, 35 and 10.

We know then that 10 is smaller 35. Hence they are not sorted.

We swap these values. We find that we have reached the end of the
array. After one iteration, the array should look like this −

To be precise, we are now showing how an array should look like after
each iteration. After the second iteration, it should look like this −

Notice that after each iteration, at least one value moves at the end.

And when there's no swap required, bubble sorts learns that an array is
completely sorted.

Now we should look into some practical aspects of bubble sort.

 Algorithm
We assume list is an array of n elements. We further assume
that swapfunction swaps the values of the given array elements.

begin BubbleSort(list)

for all elements of list

if list[i] > list[i+1]

swap(list[i], list[i+1])

end if

end for

return list

end BubbleSort

Program for Bubble Sort in C++

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()

int a[50],n,i,j,temp;

cout<<"Enter the size of array: ";

cin>>n;

cout<<"Enter the array elements: ";

for(i=0;i<n;++i)

cin>>a[i];
for(i=1;i<n;++i)

for(j=0;j<(n-i);++j)

if(a[j]>a[j+1])

temp=a[j];

a[j]=a[j+1];

a[j+1]=temp;

cout<<"Array after bubble sort:";

for(i=0;i<n;++i)

cout<<" "<<a[i];

return 0;

Output
 Insertion Sort
How Insertion Sort Works?
We take an unsorted array for our example.

Insertion sort compares the first two elements.

It finds that both 14 and 33 are already in ascending order. For now, 14
is in sorted sub-list.

Insertion sort moves ahead and compares 33 with 27.

And finds that 33 is not in the correct position.

It swaps 33 with 27. It also checks with all the elements of sorted sub-
list. Here we see that the sorted sub-list has only one element 14, and
27 is greater than 14. Hence, the sorted sub-list remains sorted after
swapping.

By now we have 14 and 27 in the sorted sub-list. Next, it compares 33

with 10.
These values are not in a sorted order.

So we swap them.

However, swapping makes 27 and 10 unsorted.

Hence, we swap them too.

Again we find 14 and 10 in an unsorted order.

We swap them again. By the end of third iteration, we have a sorted

sub-list of 4 items.

This process goes on until all the unsorted values are covered in a sorted
sub-list. Now we shall see some programming aspects of insertion sort.

Algorithm
Now we have a bigger picture of how this sorting technique works, so we
can derive simple steps by which we can achieve insertion sort.
Step 1 −
If it is the first element, it is already sorted. return 1;
Step 2 −
Pick next element
Step 3 −
Compare with all elements in the sorted sub-list
Step 4 −
Shift all the elements in the sorted sub-list that is greater than the
value to be sorted
Step 5 − Insert the value
Step 6 − Repeat until list is sorted
 Program for Insertion Sort in C++

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()

int i,j,n,temp,a[30];

cout<<"Enter the number of elements:";

cin>>n;

cout<<"\nEnter the elements\n";

for(i=0;i<n;i++)

cin>>a[i];

for(i=1;i<=n-1;i++)

temp=a[i];

j=i-1;

while((temp<a[j])&&(j>=0))

a[j+1]=a[j]; //moves element forward

j=j-1;

a[j+1]=temp; //insert element in proper place

cout<<"\nSorted list is as follows\n";

 for(i=0;i<n;i++)

cout<<a[i]<<" ";

return 0;

}
 Selection Sort
Selection sort is a simple sorting algorithm. This sorting algorithm is an
in-place comparison-based algorithm in which the list is divided into two
parts, the sorted part at the left end and the unsorted part at the right
end. Initially, the sorted part is empty and the unsorted part is the entire
list.

The smallest element is selected from the unsorted array and swapped
with the leftmost element, and that element becomes a part of the
sorted array. This process continues moving unsorted array boundary by
one element to the right.

How Selection Sort Works?

Consider the following depicted array as an example.

For the first position in the sorted list, the whole list is scanned
sequentially. The first position where 14 is stored presently, we search
the whole list and find that 10 is the lowest value.

So we replace 14 with 10. After one iteration 10, which happens to be

the minimum value in the list, appears in the first position of the sorted
list.

For the second position, where 33 is residing, we start scanning the rest
of the list in a linear manner.

We find that 14 is the second lowest value in the list and it should appear
at the second place. We swap these values.
After two iterations, two least values are positioned at the beginning in a
sorted manner.

The same process is applied to the rest of the items in the array.

Following is a pictorial depiction of the entire sorting process −

 Now, let us learn some programming aspects of selection sort.

Algorithm
Step 1 − Set MIN to location 0
Step 2 − Search the minimum element in the list
Step 3 − Swap with value at location MIN
Step 4 − Increment MIN to point to next element
Step 5 − Repeat until list is sorted

Program for Selection Sort in C++

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()

int i,j,n,loc,temp,min,a[30];

cout<<"Enter the number of elements:";

cin>>n;

cout<<"\nEnter the elements\n";

for(i=0;i<n;i++)

cin>>a[i];

for(i=0;i<n-1;i++)

min=a[i];

loc=i;

for(j=i+1;j<n;j++)

if(min>a[j])
 {

min=a[j];

loc=j;

temp=a[i];

a[i]=a[loc];

a[loc]=temp;

cout<<"\nSorted list is as follows\n";

for(i=0;i<n;i++)

cout<<a[i]<<" ";

return 0;

}
 Merge Sort Algorithm
Merge sort first divides the array into equal halves and then combines
them in a sorted manner.

How Merge Sort Works?

To understand merge sort, we take an unsorted array as the following −

We know that merge sort first divides the whole array iteratively into
equal halves unless the atomic values are achieved. We see here that an
array of 8 items is divided into two arrays of size 4.

This does not change the sequence of appearance of items in the

original. Now we divide these two arrays into halves.

We further divide these arrays and we achieve atomic value which can no
more be divided.

Now, we combine them in exactly the same manner as they were broken
down. Please note the color codes given to these lists.

We first compare the element for each list and then combine them into
another list in a sorted manner. We see that 14 and 33 are in sorted
positions. We compare 27 and 10 and in the target list of 2 values we put
10 first, followed by 27. We change the order of 19 and 35 whereas 42
and 44 are placed sequentially.
In the next iteration of the combining phase, we compare lists of two
data values, and merge them into a list of found data values placing all in
a sorted order.

After the final merging, the list should look like this −

Now we should learn some programming aspects of merge sorting.

Algorithm
Merge sort keeps on dividing the list into equal halves until it can no
more be divided. By definition, if it is only one element in the list, it is
sorted. Then, merge sort combines the smaller sorted lists keeping the
new list sorted too.
Step 1 − if it is only one element in the list it is already sorted, return.
Step 2 − divide the list recursively into two halves until it can no more be divided.
Step 3 − merge the smaller lists into new list in sorted order.
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

// A function to merge the two half into a sorted data.

void Merge(int *a, int low, int high, int mid)
{
// We have low to mid and mid+1 to high already sorted.
 int i, j, k, temp[high-low+1];
i = low;
k = 0;
j = mid + 1;

// Merge the two parts into temp[].

while (i <= mid && j <= high)
{
if (a[i] < a[j])
{
temp[k] = a[i];
k++;
i++;
}
else
{
temp[k] = a[j];
k++;
j++;
}
}

// Insert all the remaining values from i to mid into temp[].

while (i <= mid)
{
temp[k] = a[i];
k++;
i++;
}

// Insert all the remaining values from j to high into temp[].

while (j <= high)
{
temp[k] = a[j];
k++;
j++;
}

// Assign sorted data stored in temp[] to a[].

for (i = low; i <= high; i++)
{
a[i] = temp[i-low];
}
}

// A function to split array into two parts.

void MergeSort(int *a, int low, int high)
{
int mid;
if (low < high)
{
mid=(low+high)/2;
// Split the data into two half.
MergeSort(a, low, mid);
MergeSort(a, mid+1, high);

// Merge them to get sorted output.

Merge(a, low, high, mid);
 }
}

int main()
{
int n, i;
cout<<"\nEnter the number of data element to be sorted: ";
cin>>n;

int arr[n];
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
cout<<"Enter element "<<i+1<<": ";
cin>>arr[i];
}

MergeSort(arr, 0, n-1);

// Printing the sorted data.

cout<<"\nSorted Data ";
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
cout<<"->"<<arr[i];

return 0;
}

Output
Enter the number of data element to be sorted: 10
Enter element 1: 23
Enter element 2: 987
Enter element 3: 45
Enter element 4: 65
Enter element 5: 32
Enter element 6: 9
Enter element 7: 475
Enter element 8: 1
Enter element 9: 17
Enter element 10: 3

Sorted Data ->1->3->9->17->23->32->45->65->475->987