std::partial_sort - cppreference.com

Defined in header

<algorithm>

template<classRandomIt>voidpartial_sort(RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast); (1)(constexpr since C++20)template<classRandomIt,classCompare>voidpartial_sort(RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast,Comparecomp); (2)(constexpr since C++20)template<classExecutionPolicy,classRandomIt>voidpartial_sort(ExecutionPolicy&&policy,RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast); (3) (since C++17)template<classExecutionPolicy,classRandomIt,classCompare>voidpartial_sort(ExecutionPolicy&&policy,RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast,Comparecomp); (4) (since C++17)Places the first middle-first elements from the target range [first, last) as sorted into the range [first, middle). The rest of the elements are placed in the range [middle, last) in an unspecified order.

1) Elements are

sorted

with respect to operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).

2) Elements are sorted with respect to comp.

3,4) Same as (1,2), but executed according to policy.

These overloads participate in overload resolution only if the value of the following expression is true:

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>>

(until C++20)std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>>

(since C++20)If any of the following conditions is satisfied, the behavior is undefined:

[first, middle) or [middle, last) is not a

valid range

.

Parameters

first, last - the pair of iterators defining the target

range

middle - the end of the range of sorted elements comp - comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of

Compare

) which returns ​true if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following:

boolcmp(constType1&a,constType2&b);

While the signature does not need to have const&, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) Type1 and Type2 regardless of

value category

(thus, Type1& is not allowed, nor is Type1 unless for Type1 a move is equivalent to a copy(since C++11)).
The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type RandomIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both of them. ​

policy - the

execution policy

to use Type requirements -RandomIt must meet the requirements of

LegacyRandomAccessIterator

. -Compare must meet the requirements of

Compare

. Complexity

Given

M as middle-first,

N as last-first:

1) Approximately N·log(M) comparisons using operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).

2) Approximately N·log(M) applications of the comparator comp.

3)𝓞(N·log(M)) comparisons using operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).

4)𝓞(N·log(M)) applications of the comparator comp.

Exceptions

3,4) During the execution process:

If the temporary memory resources required for parallelization are not available,

std::bad_alloc

is thrown.

If an uncaught exception is thrown while accessing objects via an algorithm argument, the behavior is determined by the execution policy (for

standard policies

,

std::terminate

is invoked).

Possible implementation

See also the implementations in

libstdc++

and

libc++

.

partial_sort (1)

template<typenameRandomIt>constexpr//< since C++20voidpartial_sort(RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast){typedeftypenamestd::iterator_traits<RandomIt>::value_typeVT;std::partial_sort(first,middle,last,std::less<VT>());}

partial_sort (2)

namespaceimpl{template<typenameRandomIt,typenameCompare>constexpr//< since C++20voidsift_down(RandomItfirst,RandomItlast,constCompare&comp){// sift down element at “first”constautolength=static_cast<std::size_t>(last-first);std::size_tcurrent=0;std::size_tnext=2;while(next<length){if(comp(*(first+next),*(first+(next-1))))--next;if(!comp(*(first+current),*(first+next)))return;std::iter_swap(first+current,first+next);current=next;next=2*current+2;}--next;if(next<length&&comp(*(first+current),*(first+next)))std::iter_swap(first+current,first+next);}template<typenameRandomIt,typenameCompare>constexpr//< since C++20voidheap_select(RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast,constCompare&comp){std::make_heap(first,middle,comp);for(autoi=middle;i!=last;++i){if(comp(*i,*first)){std::iter_swap(first,i);sift_down(first,middle,comp);}}}}// namespace impltemplate<typenameRandomIt,typenameCompare>constexpr//< since C++20voidpartial_sort(RandomItfirst,RandomItmiddle,RandomItlast,Comparecomp){impl::heap_select(first,middle,last,comp);std::sort_heap(first,middle,comp);}Notes

std::partial_sort algorithms are intended to be used for small constant numbers of [first, middle) selected elements.

The algorithm used is typically heap select to select the smallest elements, and heap sort to sort the selected elements in the heap in ascending order.

To select elements, a heap is used (see

heap

). For example, for operator< as comparison function, max-heap is used to select middle−first smallest elements.

Heap sort

is used after selection to sort [first, middle) selected elements (see

std::sort_heap

).

Example

Run this code

#include<algorithm>#include<array>#include<functional>#include<iostream>voidprint(constauto&s,intmiddle){for(inta:s)std::cout<<a<<' ';std::cout<<'\n';if(middle>0){while(middle-->0)std::cout<<"--";std::cout<<'^';}elseif(middle<0){for(autoi=s.size()+middle;--i;std::cout<<" "){}for(std::cout<<'^';middle++<0;std::cout<<"--"){}}std::cout<<'\n';};intmain(){std::array<int,10>s{5,7,4,2,8,6,1,9,0,3};print(s,0);std::partial_sort(s.begin(),s.begin()+3,s.end());print(s,3);std::partial_sort(s.rbegin(),s.rbegin()+4,s.rend());print(s,-4);std::partial_sort(s.rbegin(),s.rbegin()+5,s.rend(),std::greater{});print(s,-5);}Possible output:

5 7 4 2 8 6 1 9 0 3 0 1 2 7 8 6 5 9 4 3 ------^ 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 2 1 0 ^-------- 4 3 2 1 0 5 6 7 8 9 ^---------- Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior

P0896R4

C++98 [first, middle) and [middle, last)
were not required to be valid ranges the behavior is undefined
if any of them is invalid See also

ranges::partial_sort

(C++20)

sorts the first N elements of a range
(algorithm function object)

[edit]

nth_element

finds the Nth element if the range were sorted
(function template & algorithm function object)

[edit]

ranges::nth_element

(C++20)

partial_sort_copy

copies and partially sorts a range of elements
(function template & algorithm function object)

[edit]

ranges::partial_sort_copy

(C++20)

stable_sort

sorts a range of elements while preserving relative order between equivalent elements
(function template & algorithm function object)

[edit]

ranges::stable_sort

(C++20)

sort

sorts a range of elements
(function template & algorithm function object)

[edit]

ranges::sort

(C++20)