Re: [PATCH] Re: stability of sort()?

Message-Id: <200105261727.NAA06654@raptor.research.att.com>

p4raw-id: //depot/perl@10220

diff --git a/pod/perlfunc.pod b/pod/perlfunc.pod
index 2fa645d..20714be 100644 (file)
--- a/pod/perlfunc.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfunc.pod
@@ -4291,11 +4291,11 @@ loop control operators described in L<perlsyn> or with C<goto>.
 When C<use locale> is in effect, C<sort LIST> sorts LIST according to the
 current collation locale.  See L<perllocale>.
 
-Perl does B<not> guarantee that sort is stable.  (In a I<stable> sort the
-relative order is preserved for elements where the sort comparison used
-returns that they are equal.)  5.7 happens to use a mergesort, which is
-stable, but 5.6 and earlier used quicksort, which is not.  However, do not
-assume that future perls will continue to use a stable sort such as mergesort.
+Perl does B<not> guarantee that sort is stable.  (A I<stable> sort
+preserves the input order of elements that compare equal.)  5.7 and
+5.8 happen to use a stable mergesort, but 5.6 and earlier used quicksort,
+which is not stable.  Do not assume that future perls will continue to
+use a stable sort.
 
 Examples: