QSORT(3)		   Linux Programmers Manual		     QSORT(3)



NAME
       qsort - sorts an array

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       void qsort(void *base, size_t nmemb, size_t size,
		  int(*compar)(const void *, const void *));

DESCRIPTION
       The  qsort()  function sorts an array with nmemb elements of size size.
       The base argument points to the start of the array.

       The contents of the array are sorted in ascending order according to  a
       comparison  function  pointed  to  by  compar, which is called with two
       arguments that point to the objects being compared.

       The comparison function must return an integer less than, equal to,  or
       greater	than  zero  if	the first argument is considered to be respec
       tively less than, equal to, or greater than the second.	If two members
       compare as equal, their order in the sorted array is undefined.

RETURN VALUE
       The qsort() function returns no value.

CONFORMING TO
       SVr4, 4.3BSD, C89, C99.

NOTES
       Library routines suitable for use as the compar argument include alpha
       sort(3) and versionsort(3).  To compare C strings, the comparison func
       tion can call strcmp(3), as shown in the example below.

EXAMPLE
       For one example of use, see the example under bsearch(3).

       Another example is the following program, which sorts the strings given
       in its command-line arguments:

       #include 
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 
       #include 

       static int
       cmpstringp(const void *p1, const void *p2)
       {
	   /* The actual arguments to this function are "pointers to
	      pointers to char", but strcmp(3) arguments are "pointers
	      to char", hence the following cast plus dereference */

	   return strcmp(* (char * const *) p1, * (char * const *) p2);
       }

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
	   int j;

	   assert(argc > 1);

	   qsort(&argv[1], argc - 1, sizeof(argv[1]), cmpstringp);

	   for (j = 1; j < argc; j++)
	       puts(argv[j]);
	   exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO
       sort(1), alphasort(3), strcmp(3), versionsort(3)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.05 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



				  2003-11-15			      QSORT(3)