C Program Sort N Strings in Ascending Order

C Program Sort N Strings in Ascending Order

/*
C program to input n strings and sort them
in ascending order alphabetically
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
int main()
{
  char str[30][40],temp[30];
  int n,i,j;
  
       printf("\nString Sorting: Sorts N strings:\n");
       printf("************************************\n");  
  
  printf("Input number of strings :");
  scanf("%d",&n);
  getchar(); 
  printf("Input string %d :\n",n);
  for(i=0;i<n;i++)
   gets(str[i]);
  
       /*Logic for sorting array of strings*/

     for (i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
        for (j = i + 1; j < n; ++j) {
            if (strcmp(str[i], str[j]) > 0) {
                strcpy(temp, str[i]);
                strcpy(str[i], str[j]);
                strcpy(str[j], temp);
            }
        }
    }
	 
   /* print the sorted array of strings */	   
   printf("The strings in ascending order after sorting :\n");
	      for(i=0;i<n;i++)
		 printf("%s\n",str[i]);
		 return 0;
 
} 

Output

String Sorting: Sorts N strings:
************************************
Input number of strings :7
Input string 7 :
jameel jami
ahmad
zahid
umair
nadim
sajjad
babar
The strings in ascending order after sorting :
ahmad
babar
jameel jami
nadim
sajjad
umair
zahid

C Program Sort array of strings in ascending order

Sorting Array of N Strings in C

This C program will receive the size of array of strings from the user. The user will input N strings. This C program will sort these strings alphabetically and will show the strings in ascending order after sorting.

This program uses:

1. gets(str) function for string input
2. strcmp(str1,str2) function for comparing two strings
3. strcpy(deststr,sourcestr) function to copy source string to deststring.
4. Nested for loops for sorting strings in ascending order alphabetically / lexicographically
5. getchar() function is used to absorb the Enter/Return key after entering N value. So that the first string may not take that Enter / Return key stroke with empty string as first string in the string array.

Therefore, this C program will perform string sorting in an efficient way using a simple sorting logic. The user will input how many number of strings to enter. In next step he / she will enter the N strings. The strings are sorted then in ascending order.