How to stable sort an array in swift? - arrays

Question

I've been using the sort() function but it mixes up the relative order.
This is how my code looks.
recipes.sort { $0.skill.value <= $1.skill.value }
Swift API says that:
The sorting algorithm is not stable. A nonstable sort may change the
relative order of elements that compare equal.
How can I change this so that the relative order stays the same as before?

Answer 1

The implementation below just work like the sorted method in the standard library, without additional limit.
extension RandomAccessCollection {
/// return a sorted collection
/// this use a stable sort algorithm
///
/// - Parameter areInIncreasingOrder: return nil when two element are equal
/// - Returns: the sorted collection
public func stableSorted(by areInIncreasingOrder: (Element, Element) throws -> Bool) rethrows -> [Element] {
let sorted = try enumerated().sorted { (one, another) -> Bool in
if try areInIncreasingOrder(one.element, another.element) {
return true
} else {
return one.offset < another.offset
}
}
return sorted.map { $0.element }
}
}
A stable sort needs to preserve the original order. So we give every element a weight of order besides its value, the index, then the original sort method will just work, as there will never be 2 equal elements.

Answer 2

I appreciate the elegance of leavez's answer. I adapted it to have the same signature as Sequence.sorted(by:):
extension Sequence {
func stableSorted(
by areInIncreasingOrder: (Element, Element) throws -> Bool)
rethrows -> [Element]
{
return try enumerated()
.sorted { a, b -> Bool in
try areInIncreasingOrder(a.element, b.element) ||
(a.offset < b.offset && !areInIncreasingOrder(b.element, a.element))
}
.map { $0.element }
}
}

Answer 3

let sortedArray = (recipes as NSArray).sortedArray(options: .stable, usingComparator: { (lhs, rhs) -> ComparisonResult in
let lhs = (lhs as! Recipe)
let rhs = (rhs as! Recipe)
if lhs.skill.value == rhs.skill.value {
return ComparisonResult.orderedSame
} else if lhs.skill.value < rhs.skill.value {
return ComparisonResult.orderedAscending
} else {
return ComparisonResult.orderedDescending
}
})
Took from here: https://medium.com/#cocotutch/a-swift-sorting-problem-e0ebfc4e46d4

Answer 4

In Swift 5 sort() uses stable implementation and soon it will become officially guaranted to be stable.
From Swift forums:
...
On the other hand, the actual implementation calls
/// Sorts the elements of this buffer according to `areInIncreasingOrder`,
/// using a stable, adaptive merge sort.
///
/// The adaptive algorithm used is Timsort, modified to perform a straight
/// merge of the elements using a temporary buffer.
#inlinable
public mutating func _stableSortImpl(
by areInIncreasingOrder: (Element, Element) throws -> Bool
) rethrows { ... }
And
If I recall, sort() is currently stable, but it is not yet guaranteed
to be stable (meaning, the fact that it is stable is currently an
implementation detail, and a future version of Swift could ship an
unstable algorithm instead).

Answer 5

I use this wrapper
extension Array where Element: Comparable, Element: AnyObject {
public func stableSorted() -> [Element] {
let array = self as NSArray
let result = array.sortedArray(options: .stable) { (left, right) -> ComparisonResult in
let left = left as! Element
let right = right as! Element
if left < right {
return ComparisonResult.orderedAscending
}
if left > right {
return ComparisonResult.orderedDescending
}
return ComparisonResult.orderedSame
}
return result as! [Element]
}
public func stableReversed() -> [Element] {
let array = self as NSArray
let result = array.sortedArray(options: .stable) { (left, right) -> ComparisonResult in
let left = left as! Element
let right = right as! Element
if left > right {
return ComparisonResult.orderedAscending
}
if left < right {
return ComparisonResult.orderedDescending
}
return ComparisonResult.orderedSame
}
return result as! [Element]
}
}

Answer 6

I appreciate the elegance of Tom's answer. Harking back to my Perl days I've reworked it to use ComparisonResult and the spaceship (<=>) operator:
extension Sequence {
func sorted(with comparator: (Element, Element) throws -> ComparisonResult) rethrows -> [Element]
{
return try enumerated()
.sorted { (try comparator($0.element, $1.element) || $0.offset <=> $1.offset) == .orderedAscending }
.map { $0.element }
}
}
extension Comparable {
static func <=> (lhs: Self, rhs: Self) -> ComparisonResult {
if lhs < rhs { return .orderedAscending }
if lhs > rhs { return .orderedDescending }
return .orderedSame
}
}
extension ComparisonResult {
static func || (lhs: Self, rhs: #autoclosure () -> Self) -> ComparisonResult {
if lhs == .orderedSame {
return rhs()
}
return lhs
}
}