1qsort(3C) Standard C Library Functions qsort(3C)
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6 qsort - quick sort
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9 #include <stdlib.h>
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11 void qsort(void *base, size_t nel, size_t width,
12 int (*compar)(const void *, const void *));
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16 The qsort() function is an implementation of the quick-sort algorithm.
17 It sorts a table of data in place. The contents of the table are sorted
18 in ascending order according to the user-supplied comparison function.
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21 The base argument points to the element at the base of the table. The
22 nel argument is the number of elements in the table. The width argu‐
23 ment specifies the size of each element in bytes. The compar argument
24 is the name of the comparison function, which is called with two argu‐
25 ments that point to the elements being compared.
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28 The function must return an integer less than, equal to, or greater
29 than zero to indicate if the first argument is to be considered less
30 than, equal to, or greater than the second argument.
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33 The contents of the table are sorted in ascending order according to
34 the user supplied comparison function.
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37 The qsort() function safely allows concurrent access by multiple
38 threads to disjoint data, such as overlapping subtrees or tables.
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41 Example 1 Program sorts.
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44 The following program sorts a simple array:
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47 #include <stdlib.h>
48 #include <stdio.h>
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50 static int
51 intcompare(const void *p1, const void *p2)
52 {
53 int i = *((int *)p1);
54 int j = *((int *)p2);
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56 if (i > j)
57 return (1);
58 if (i < j)
59 return (-1);
60 return (0);
61 }
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63 int
64 main()
65 {
66 int i;
67 int a[10] = { 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 };
68 size_t nelems = sizeof (a) / sizeof (int);
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70 qsort((void *)a, nelems, sizeof (int), intcompare);
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72 for (i = 0; i < nelems; i++) {
73 (void) printf("%d ", a[i]);
74 }
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76 (void) printf("\n");
77 return (0);
78 }
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82 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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87 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
88 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
89 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
90 │Interface Stability │Standard │
91 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
92 │MT-Level │MT-Safe │
93 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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96 sort(1), bsearch(3C), lsearch(3C), string(3C), attributes(5), stan‐
97 dards(5)
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100 The comparison function need not compare every byte, so arbitrary data
101 may be contained in the elements in addition to the values being com‐
102 pared.
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105 The relative order in the output of two items that compare as equal is
106 unpredictable.
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110SunOS 5.11 6 Dec 2004 qsort(3C)