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Array.Sort Method (Array, Array, IComparer)

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

Sorts 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.

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

Syntax

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

public static void Sort(
    Array keys,
    Array items,
    IComparer comparer
)

Parameters

  • items
    Type: System.Array
    The one-dimensional Array that contains the items that correspond to each of the keys in the keysArray.
    -or-
    nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic) to sort only the keysArray.

Exceptions

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

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

The keysArray is multidimensional.

-or-

The itemsArray is multidimensional.
ArgumentException

items is not nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), and the lower bound of keys does not match the lower bound of items.

-or-

items is not nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), and the length of keys is greater than the length of items.

-or-

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

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

Remarks

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

If comparer is nulla null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), each key in the keysArray 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 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 keys; 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.