JavaScript Sorting Algorithm: Flash sort

Last update on July 18 2025 13:01:36 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

JavaScript Sorting Algorithm: Exercise-12 with Solution

Flash Sort

Write a JavaScript program to sort a list of elements using Flash sort.

Flashsort is a distribution sorting algorithm showing linear computational complexity O(n) for uniformly distributed data sets and relatively little additional memory requirement. The original work was published in 1998 by Karl-Dietrich Neubert.
The basic idea behind flashsort is that in a data set with a known distribution, it is easy to immediately estimate where an element should be placed after sorting when the range of the set is known.

Sample Solution: -

HTML Code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
  <html>
  <head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>JavaScript program of Flash sort</title>
  </head>
  <body></body>
</html>

JavaScript Code:

function flash_sort(arr) 
  {
    var max = 0, min = arr[0];
    var n = arr.length;
    var m = ~~(0.45 * n);
    var l = new Array(m);
 
    for (var i = 1; i < n; ++i) {
        if (arr[i] < min) {
            min = arr[i];
        }
        if (arr[i] > arr[max]) {
            max = i;
        }
    }
 
     if (min === arr[max]) {
        return arr;
    }
 
    var c1 = (m - 1) / (arr[max] - min);
 
 
    for (var k = 0; k < m; k++) {
        l[k] = 0;
    }
    for (var j = 0; j < n; ++j) {
        k = ~~(c1 * (arr[j] - min));
        ++l[k];
    }
 
    for (var p = 1; p < m; ++p) {
        l[p] = l[p] + l[p - 1];
    }
 
    var hold = arr[max];
    arr[max] = arr[0];
    arr[0] = hold;
 
    //permutation
    var move = 0, t, flash;
    j = 0; 
    k = m - 1;
  
    while (move < (n - 1)) {
        while (j > (l[k] - 1)) {
            ++j;
            k = ~~(c1 * (arr[j] - min));
        }
        if (k < 0) break;
        flash = arr[j];
        while (j !== l[k]) {
            k = ~~(c1 * (flash - min));
            hold = arr[t = --l[k]];
            arr[t] = flash;
            flash = hold;
            ++move;
        }
    }
 
    //insertion
    for (j = 1; j < n; j++) {
        hold = arr[j];
         i = j - 1;
        while (i >= 0 && arr[i] > hold) {
            arr[i + 1] = arr[i--];
        }
        arr[i + 1] = hold;
    }
    return arr;
}
var arra = [3, 0, 2, 5, -1, 4, 1]; 
console.log("Original Array Elements"); 
console.log(arra); 
console.log("Sorted Array Elements"); 
console.log(flash_sort(arra, 0, 5));

Sample Output:

Original Array Elements
[3,0,2,5,-1,4,1]
Sorted Array Elements
[-1,0,1,2,3,4,5]

Flowchart:

JavaScript Searching and Sorting Algorithm Exercises: Flash sort

Live Demo:

See the Pen searching-and-sorting-algorithm-exercise-12 by w3resource (@w3resource) on CodePen.

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a JavaScript function that implements flash sort on a uniformly distributed array.
Write a JavaScript function that partitions an array into classes based on estimated positions and sorts each class.
Write a JavaScript function that logs the class boundaries and run lengths detected during flash sort.
Write a JavaScript function that validates the data distribution before applying flash sort.

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