Sorting

Sorting is the operation of arranging the records of a table according to the key value of each record, or it can be defined as the process of converting an unordered set of elements to an ordered set.

Sorting algorithms are divided into two categories: internal and external sorts.

Any sort algorithm that uses main memory exclusively during the sorting is called as an internal sort algorithm.

Any sort algorithm that uses external memory, such as tape or disk, during the sorting is called as an external sort algorithm.

Internal sorting is faster than external sorting.