Strand Sort

Last Updated : 29 Mar, 2024

Strand sort is a recursive sorting algorithm that sorts items of a list into increasing order. It has O(n²) worst time complexity which occurs when the input list is reverse sorted. It has a best case time complexity of O(n) which occurs when the input is a list that is already sorted.

Given a list of items, sort them in increasing order.

Examples:

Input: ip[] = {10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9}
Output: op[] = {2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 30, 40}

Input: ip[] = {1, 10, 7}
Output: op[] = {1, 7, 10}

Illustrations:

Let, input[] = {10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9}

Initialize: output[] = {}, sublist[] = {}

Move first item of input to sublist.
sublist[] = {10}

Traverse remaining items of input and if current element is greater than last item of sublist, move this item from input to sublist.
Now, sublist[] = {10, 30, 40}, input[] = {5, 2, 4, 9}

Merge sublist into output.
op = {10, 30, 40}

Next recursive call: Move first item of input to sublist. sublist[] = {5}

Traverse remaining items of input and move elements greater than last inserted.
input[] = {2, 4}
sublist[] = {5, 9}

Merge sublist into op.
output = {5, 9, 10, 30, 40}

Last Recursive Call:

{2, 4} are first moved to sublist and then merged into output.
output = {2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 30, 40}

Below are simple steps used in the algorithm:

Let ip[] be input list and op[] be output list.
Create an empty sublist and move first item of ip[] to it.
Traverse remaining items of ip. For every item x, check if x is greater than last inserted item to sublist. If yes, remove x from ip and add at the end of sublist. If no, ignore x (Keep it in ip)
Merge sublist into op (output list)
Recur for remaining items in ip and current items in op.

Below is the implementation of above algorithm in C++ and Javascript. The C++ implementation uses list in C++ STL.

CPP

// CPP program to implement Strand Sort
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

// A recursive function to implement Strand
// sort.
// ip is input list of items (unsorted).
// op is output list of items (sorted)
void strandSort(list<int> &ip, list<int> &op)
{
    // Base case : input is empty
    if (ip.empty())
        return;

    // Create a sorted sublist with
    // first item of input list as
    // first item of the sublist
    list<int> sublist;
    sublist.push_back(ip.front());
    ip.pop_front();
     
    // Traverse remaining items of ip list
    for (auto it = ip.begin(); it != ip.end(); ) {

        // If current item of input list
        // is greater than last added item
        // to sublist, move current item
        // to sublist as sorted order is
        // maintained.
        if (*it > sublist.back()) {
            sublist.push_back(*it);

            // erase() on list removes an
            // item and returns iterator to
            // next of removed item.
            it = ip.erase(it);
        }

        // Otherwise ignore current element
        else
            it++;
    }

    // Merge current sublist into output
    op.merge(sublist);

    // Recur for remaining items in
    // input and current items in op.
    strandSort(ip, op);
}

// Driver code
int main(void)
{
    list<int> ip{10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9};

    // To store sorted output list
    list<int> op;

    // Sorting the list
    strandSort(ip, op);

    // Printing the sorted list
    for (auto x : op)
        cout << x << " ";
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java Code

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class StrandSort {
    // Define a helper function to merge two sorted lists
    public static List<Integer> mergeLists(List<Integer> list1, List<Integer> list2) {
        List<Integer> result = new ArrayList<>();
        while (!list1.isEmpty() && !list2.isEmpty()) {
            if (list1.get(0) < list2.get(0)) {
                result.add(list1.remove(0));
            } else {
                result.add(list2.remove(0));
            }
        }
        result.addAll(list1);
        result.addAll(list2);
        return result;
    }

    // Recursive function to perform strand sort
    public static List<Integer> strandSort(List<Integer> inputList) {
        // Base case: if the input list has 1 or fewer elements, it's already sorted
        if (inputList.size() <= 1) {
            return inputList;
        }

        // Initialize a sublist with the first element of the input list
        List<Integer> sublist = new ArrayList<>();
        sublist.add(inputList.remove(0));

        int i = 0;
        while (i < inputList.size()) {
            // If the current element in the input list is greater than
            // the last element in the sublist,
            // add it to the sublist; otherwise, continue to the next element in the input list.
            if (inputList.get(i) > sublist.get(sublist.size() - 1)) {
                sublist.add(inputList.remove(i));
            } else {
                i++;
            }
        }

        // The sortedSublist contains the sorted elements from the current sublist
        List<Integer> sortedSublist = new ArrayList<>(sublist);

        // Recursively sort the remaining part of the input list
        List<Integer> remainingList = strandSort(inputList);

        // Merge the sorted sublist and the sorted remainingList
        return mergeLists(sortedSublist, remainingList);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> inputList = new ArrayList<>();
        inputList.add(10);
        inputList.add(5);
        inputList.add(30);
        inputList.add(40);
        inputList.add(2);
        inputList.add(4);
        inputList.add(9);

        List<Integer> outputList = strandSort(inputList);

        for (int x : outputList) {
            System.out.print(x + " ");
        }
    }
}

// This code is contributed by guptapratik

Python3

def strand_sort(ip):
    # Define a helper function to merge two sorted lists
    def merge_lists(list1, list2):
        result = []
        while list1 and list2:
            if list1[0] < list2[0]:
                result.append(list1.pop(0))
            else:
                result.append(list2.pop(0))
        result += list1
        result += list2
        return result

    # Base case: if the input list has 1 or fewer elements, it's already sorted
    if len(ip) <= 1:
        return ip

    # Initialize a sublist with the first element of the input list
    sublist = [ip.pop(0)]

    i = 0
    while i < len(ip):
        # If the current element in the input list is greater than the last element in the sublist,
        # add it to the sublist; otherwise, continue to the next element in the input list.
        if ip[i] > sublist[-1]:
            sublist.append(ip.pop(i))
        else:
            i += 1

    # The sorted_sublist contains the sorted elements from the current sublist
    sorted_sublist = sublist

    # Recursively sort the remaining part of the input list
    remaining_list = strand_sort(ip)

    # Merge the sorted sublist and the sorted remaining_list
    return merge_lists(sorted_sublist, remaining_list)

#Driver code
if __name__ == "__main__":
    ip = [10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9]
    op = strand_sort(ip)
    for x in op:
        print(x, end=" ")

// C# Code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class StrandSort
{
    // Define a helper function to merge two sorted lists
    public static List<int> MergeLists(List<int> list1, List<int> list2)
    {
        List<int> result = new List<int>();
        while (list1.Count > 0 && list2.Count > 0)
        {
            if (list1[0] < list2[0])
            {
                result.Add(list1[0]);
                list1.RemoveAt(0);
            }
            else
            {
                result.Add(list2[0]);
                list2.RemoveAt(0);
            }
        }
        result.AddRange(list1);
        result.AddRange(list2);
        return result;
    }

    // Recursive function to perform strand sort
    public static List<int> PerformStrandSort(List<int> inputList)
    {
        // Base case: if the input list has 1 or fewer elements, it's already sorted
        if (inputList.Count <= 1)
        {
            return inputList;
        }

        // Initialize a sublist with the first element of the input list
        List<int> sublist = new List<int>();
        sublist.Add(inputList[0]);
        inputList.RemoveAt(0);

        int i = 0;
        while (i < inputList.Count)
        {
            // If the current element in the input list is greater than the last element in the sublist,
            // add it to the sublist; otherwise, continue to the next element in the input list.
            if (inputList[i] > sublist[sublist.Count - 1])
            {
                sublist.Add(inputList[i]);
                inputList.RemoveAt(i);
            }
            else
            {
                i++;
            }
        }

        // The sortedSublist contains the sorted elements from the current sublist
        List<int> sortedSublist = new List<int>(sublist);

        // Recursively sort the remaining part of the input list
        List<int> remainingList = PerformStrandSort(inputList);

        // Merge the sorted sublist and the sorted remainingList
        return MergeLists(sortedSublist, remainingList);
    }

    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        List<int> inputList = new List<int> { 10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9 };

        List<int> outputList = PerformStrandSort(inputList);

        foreach (int x in outputList)
        {
            Console.Write(x + " ");
        }
    }
}
// This code is contributed by guptapratik

JavaScript

// Javascript program to implement Strand Sort

// A recursive function to implement Strand sort.
// ip is input list of items (unsorted).
// op is output list of items (sorted)
function strandSort(ip)
{   
    // Create a sorted sublist with
    // first item of input list as
    // first item of the sublist
    var sublist=[];
    sublist.push(ip[0]);
    ip.shift();
    
    
    // Traverse remaining items of ip list
    var len=ip.length-1;//last index of input list
    var len2=sublist.length-1;//last index of sublist
   
    var it =0;
     while(it<=len){

        // If current item of input list
        // is greater than last added item
        // to sublist, move current item
        // to sublist as sorted order is
        // maintained.
        if (ip[it] >sublist[len2]) {
            sublist.push(ip[it]);
            len2++;
           
            // splice(index,1) on list removes an
            // item and moves "it" to
            // next of removed item.
            
            ip.splice(it,1);
        
        }

        // Otherwise ignore current element
        else{
            it++;
        }
    }

   // Merge current sublist into output
   while(sublist.length>0 && op.length>0){
        if(sublist[0]>=op[0]){opp.push(op.shift());}
        else{opp.push(sublist.shift());}
    }
    if(sublist.length==0){
        opp=[...opp,...op];
    }
    if(op.length==0){
        opp=[...opp,...sublist];
    }
    op=[...opp];
    opp.length=0;
    
    // Recur for remaining items in input and current items in op.
    //Added base case
    if(ip.length>0){
    strandSort(ip);
    }
}

// Driver code

    var ip=[10, 5, 30, 40, 2, 4, 9];

    // To store sorted output list
    var op=[];
    //list helping in merge operation
    var opp=[];
    // Sorting the list
    strandSort(ip);
    
    // Printing the sorted list
        console.log(op);

Output

2 4 5 9 10 30 40

Time complexity: O(N²)
Auxiliary Space: O(N)

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