How to Sort an Array in Ascending Order in C - Step by Step Examples



How to Sort an Array in Ascending Order in C ?

Answer

To sort an array in ascending order in C, you can use the `qsort` function from the `stdlib.h` library for both arrays of integers and arrays of strings.



✐ Examples

1 Sort Array of Integers

In this example,

  1. Create an array of integers, for example, numbers.
  2. Define a comparison function, for example, compareInts, to compare two integers.
  3. Use the qsort function to sort the array of integers in-place based on the comparison function.
  4. Print the sorted array to see the result.

C Program

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int compareInts(const void* a, const void* b) {
    return (*(int*)a - *(int*)b);
}

int main() {
    int numbers[] = {5, 2, 8, 1, 9};
    int size = sizeof(numbers) / sizeof(numbers[0]);
    qsort(numbers, size, sizeof(int), compareInts);
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
        printf("%d ", numbers[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

1 2 5 8 9

2 Sort Array of Strings

In this example,

  1. Create an array of strings, for example, words.
  2. Define a comparison function, for example, compareStrings, to compare two strings.
  3. Use the qsort function to sort the array of strings in-place based on the comparison function.
  4. Print the sorted array to see the result.

C Program

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int compareStrings(const void* a, const void* b) {
    return strcmp(*(const char**)a, *(const char**)b);
}

int main() {
    char* words[] = {"apple", "banana", "cherry", "date"};
    int size = sizeof(words) / sizeof(words[0]);
    qsort(words, size, sizeof(char*), compareStrings);
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
        printf("%s ", words[i]);
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

apple banana cherry date 

Summary

In this tutorial, we learned How to Sort an Array in Ascending Order in C language with well detailed examples.




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