
Sorting Algorithm

This is a sorting algorithm.   It may be applied to a set of data in order to sort it.    
For comparing various sorts, see compare sorts.  
For other sorting algorithms,   see sorting algorithms,   or:

O(n logn) sorts
Heap sort |
Merge sort |
Patience sort |
Quick sort
O(n log2n) sorts
Shell Sort
O(n2) sorts
Bubble sort |
Cocktail sort |
Cocktail sort with shifting bounds |
Comb sort |
Cycle sort |
Gnome sort |
Insertion sort |
Selection sort |
Strand sort
other sorts
Bead sort |
Bogo sort |
Common sorted list |
Composite structures sort |
Custom comparator sort |
Counting sort |
Disjoint sublist sort |
External sort |
Jort sort |
Lexicographical sort |
Natural sorting |
Order by pair comparisons |
Order disjoint list items |
Order two numerical lists |
Object identifier (OID) sort |
Pancake sort |
Quickselect |
Permutation sort |
Radix sort |
Ranking methods |
Remove duplicate elements |
Sleep sort |
Stooge sort |
[Sort letters of a string] |
Three variable sort |
Topological sort |
Tree sort


Sort an array of numbers (of any convenient size) into ascending order using   Patience sorting.



Related task

   Longest increasing subsequence


package require Tcl 8.6
 
proc patienceSort {items} {
    # Make the piles
    set piles {}
    foreach item $items {
	set p [lsearch -bisect -index end $piles $item]
	if {$p == -1} {
	    lappend piles [list $item]
	} else {
	    lset piles $p end+1 $item
	}
    }
    # Merge the piles; no suitable builtin, alas
    set indices [lrepeat [llength $piles] 0]
    set result {}
    while 1 {
	set j 0
	foreach pile $piles i $indices {
	    set val [lindex $pile $i]
	    if {$i < [llength $pile] && (![info exist min] || $min > $val)} {
		set k $j
		set next [incr i]
		set min $val
	    }
	    incr j
	}
	if {![info exist min]} break
	lappend result $min
	unset min
	lset indices $k $next
    }
    return $result
}