QSORT(3,L) AIX Technical Reference QSORT(3,L) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- qsort PURPOSE Sorts a table of data in place. LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc.a) SYNTAX void qsort (base, nel, size, compar) void * base; size_t nel, size; int (*compar) (void *, void *); DESCRIPTION The qsort subroutine sorts a table of data in place. It uses the "quicker-sort" algorithm. The base parameter points to the element at the base of the table. The nel parameter is the number of elements in the table. The compar parameter is the name of the comparison function. (See "alphasort" for one such comparison function.) The comparison function must compare its parameters and return a value as follows: o If the first parameter is less than the second parameter, compar must return a value less than 0. o If the first parameter is equal to the second parameter, compar must return 0. o If the first parameter is greater than the second parameter, compar must return a value greater than 0. The comparison function need not compare every byte, so arbitrary data can be contained in the elements in addition to the values being compared. Note: The order in the output of two items that compare equal is unpredictable. The pointer to the base of the table should be of type pointer-to-element, and cast to type pointer-to-character. RELATED INFORMATION In this book: "alphasort," "bsearch," "lsearch, lfind," and "string." Processed November 7, 1990 QSORT(3,L) 1 QSORT(3,L) AIX Technical Reference QSORT(3,L) The sort command in AIX Operating System Commands Reference. Processed November 7, 1990 QSORT(3,L) 2