C Program-To Sort Elements Using Bubble Sort

Code Description

This is a simple sorting algorithm.  In this algorithm each element is compared with adjacent element and swapped if their position is incorrect. This algorithm is named as bubble sort because after every pass the largest element moves to the end of the array same as like bubbles, the lighter elements come up and heavier elements settle down.

Example: In each step, elements written in bold are being compared.
First Pass:
( 5 1 4 2 8 ) –> ( 1 5 4 2 8 ), Here, algorithm compares the first two elements, and swaps since 5 > 1.
( 1 5 4 2 8 ) –>  ( 1 4 5 2 8 ), Swap since 5 > 4
( 1 4 5 2 8 ) –>  ( 1 4 2 5 8 ), Swap since 5 > 2
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 4 2 5 8 ), Now, since these elements are already in order (8 > 5), algorithm does not swap them.

Second Pass:
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 4 2 5 8 )
( 1 4 2 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 ), Swap since 4 > 2
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –>  ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
Now, the array is already sorted, but the algorithm does not know if it is completed. The algorithm needs one whole pass without any swap to know it is sorted.

Third Pass:
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )
( 1 2 4 5 8 ) –> ( 1 2 4 5 8 )

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Source Code

//  Created by Kaustav Ghosh Dastidar.
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int a[100],i,n,step,temp;
    printf("Enter the size of the array element: ");
    scanf("%d",&n);
    printf("%d. Enter the array elements: ",i+1);
    scanf("%d",&a[i]);
    for(step=0;step<n-1;++step)
    for(i=0;i<n-step-1;++i)
    {
        if(a[i]>a[i+1])   /* Change > to < in this line, if you want to sort in descending order, */
        {
            temp=a[i];
            a[i]=a[i+1];
            a[i+1]=temp;
        }
    }
    printf("In ascending order: ");
    for(i=0;i<n;++i)
         printf("%d  ",a[i]);
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter the size of the array element: 5 
1. Enter the array elements: 5 1 4 2 8 
In ascending order: 1 2 4 5 8