• Article

Array.Sort Method (Array, IComparer)

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Sorts the elements in a one-dimensional Array using the specified IComparer.

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

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Shared Sub Sort ( _
    array As Array, _
    comparer As IComparer _
)

public static void Sort(
    Array array,
    IComparer comparer
)

Parameters

Exceptions

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

array is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
RankException

array is multidimensional.
InvalidOperationException

comparer is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), and one or more elements in array do not implement the IComparable interface.
ArgumentException

The implementation of comparer caused an error during the sort. For example, comparer might not return 0 when comparing an item with itself.

Remarks

If comparer is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), 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 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.

On average, this method is an O(n log n) operation, where n is the Length of array; in the worst case it is an O(n ^ 2) operation.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.