# Nearly-Optimal Mergesorts: Fast, Practical Sorting Methods That Optimally Adapt to Existing Runs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.04154 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.04154/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 10 May 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Sorting with Predictions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.00749/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present two stable mergesort variants, "peeksort" and "powersort", that exploit existing runs and find nearly-optimal merging orders with practically negligible overhead. Previous methods either require substantial effort for determining the merging order (Takaoka 2009; Barbay & Navarro 2013) or do not have a constant-factor optimal worst-case guarantee (Peters 2001; Auger, Nicaud & Pivoteau 2015; Buss & Knop 2018). We demonstrate that our methods are competitive in terms of running time with state-of-the-art implementations of stable sorting methods.