C# IsSorted Method: If Array Is Already Sorted

Determine if an array is already sorted by implementing an IsSorted method.

IsSorted, array. An array may be already sorted. We can avoid sorting it again in this case. This is useful when accepting input that needs to be presorted, or for certain algorithms. We apply this to int and string arrays.Sort

An example. When determining if an array is already sorted, you could call Sort on a copy of the array and then compare for equality. But this is much slower than iterating through the array and using CompareTo on each element.CompareTo

Here: We loop over arrays, comparing adjacent elements for the correct ordering. This is a faster approach.

For

Main: This declares 6 arrays, 3 for ints and 3 for strings. Each trio contains one ascending array, one unsorted array, and one descending array.

Array

SortTools: The SortTools class is a public static class that you can put in an external file, called "SortTools.cs".

Static

IsSorted int: IsSorted checks that the int array specified is sorted in ascending order.

IsSorted string: This method works the same as its int equivalent. It calls CompareTo on strings.

C# program that tests sorted arrays using System; class Program { static void Main() { int[] sortedInts = new int[] { 1, 4, 6, 8 }; int[] unsortedInts = new int[] { 5, 2, 7, 6 }; int[] reversedInts = new int[] { 9, 8, 5, 1 }; string[] sortedStrings = new string[] { "cat", "man", "zebra" }; string[] unsortedStrings = new string[] { "soda", "pop", "coke", "tonic" }; string[] reversedStrings = new string[] { "zebra", "partridge", "apple" }; Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(sortedInts)); // True Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(sortedInts)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(unsortedInts)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(unsortedInts)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(reversedInts)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(reversedInts)); // True Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(sortedStrings)); // True Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(sortedStrings)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(unsortedStrings)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(unsortedStrings)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSorted(reversedStrings)); // False Console.WriteLine(SortTools.IsSortedDescending(reversedStrings)); // True } } /// <summary> /// Methods for determining if arrays are sorted. /// </summary> public static class SortTools { /// <summary> /// Determines if int array is sorted from 0 -> Max /// </summary> public static bool IsSorted(int[] arr) { for (int i = 1; i < arr.Length; i++) { if (arr[i - 1] > arr[i]) { return false; } } return true; } /// <summary> /// Determines if string array is sorted from A -> Z /// </summary> public static bool IsSorted(string[] arr) { for (int i = 1; i < arr.Length; i++) { if (arr[i - 1].CompareTo(arr[i]) > 0) // If previous is bigger, return false { return false; } } return true; } /// <summary> /// Determines if int array is sorted from Max -> 0 /// </summary> public static bool IsSortedDescending(int[] arr) { for (int i = arr.Length - 2; i >= 0; i--) { if (arr[i] < arr[i + 1]) { return false; } } return true; } /// <summary> /// Determines if string array is sorted from Z -> A /// </summary> public static bool IsSortedDescending(string[] arr) { for (int i = arr.Length - 2; i >= 0; i--) { if (arr[i].CompareTo(arr[i + 1]) < 0) // If previous is smaller, return false { return false; } } return true; } } Output True False False False False True True False False False False True

Notes, descending. The IsSortedDescending method checks that the argument array is sorted from high to low—this is descending order. We must implement special "descending" loops.

A summary. We can determine if arrays are already sorted. These methods are fast—with optimal time complexity. No extra memory is allocated. You could adapt the approach in these methods to char or object arrays.

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C# IsSorted Method: If Array Is Already Sorted

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