Sorting · Tuck

Go's slices package implements sorting for builtins and user-defined types. We'll look at sorting for builtins first.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"slices"
)

func main() {

Sorting functions are generic, and work for any ordered built-in type. For a list of ordered types, see cmp.Ordered.

	strs := []string{"c", "a", "b"}
	slices.Sort(strs)
	fmt.Println("Strings:", strs)

An example of sorting ints.

	ints := []int{7, 2, 4}
	slices.Sort(ints)
	fmt.Println("Ints:   ", ints)

We can also use the slices package to check if a slice is already in sorted order.

	s := slices.IsSorted(ints)
	fmt.Println("Sorted: ", s)

A sorted slice can be searched quickly with a binary search.

	i, found := slices.BinarySearch(ints, 4)
	fmt.Println("Found 4:", found, "at", i)

Reverse, Max, and Min round out the basics.

	slices.Reverse(strs)
	fmt.Println("Reversed:", strs, slices.Max(ints), slices.Min(ints))

slices.Sorted collects and sorts the values of an iterator.

	fmt.Println(slices.Sorted(slices.Values([]float64{2.5, -1, 0})))
}

$ go run ./52_sorting
Strings: [a b c]
Ints:    [2 4 7]
Sorted:  true
Found 4: true at 1
Reversed: [c b a] 7 2
[-1 0 2.5]