{"id":11480,"date":"2026-02-06T21:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/?p=11480"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:56:11","slug":"bucket-sort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/bucket-sort\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucket Sort"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- PrismJS for Syntax Highlighting -->\n<link\n    href=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/themes\/prism-tomorrow.min.css\"\n    rel=\"stylesheet\"\n\/>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/prism.min.js\"><\/script>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jsdelivr.net\/npm\/prismjs@1.29.0\/plugins\/autoloader\/prism-autoloader.min.js\"><\/script>\n\n<style>\n.wp_blog_theme {\n  --primary: #E58C32;\n  --secondary: #030302;\n  --light-bg: #fef9f4;\n  --text-dark: #2d2d2d;\n  --tab-radius: 12px;\n  --shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08);\n  --code-bg: #001f3f;\n  --code-text: #d4f1ff;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_container {\n  font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;\n  background: var(--light-bg);\n  margin: 0;\n  padding: 0;\n  color: var(--text-dark);\n}\n\n\/* Heading *\/\n.wp_blog_main-heading {\n  text-align: center;\n  font-size: 2.4rem;\n  color: var(--primary);\n  margin-top: 2.5rem;\n  font-weight: bold;\n}\n\n\/* Explanation Card *\/\n.wp_blog_explanation,\n.wp_blog_code-tabs-container {\n  max-width: 940px;\n  margin: 2rem auto;\n  padding: 2rem;\n  background: white;\n  border-radius: var(--tab-radius);\n  box-shadow: var(--shadow);\n}\n\n\/* Text and Visuals *\/\n.wp_blog_explanation h2 {\n  font-size: 1.4rem;\n  color: var(--primary);\n  margin-bottom: 0.5rem;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_explanation p,\n.wp_blog_explanation li {\n  font-size: 1.05rem;\n  line-height: 1.7;\n  margin: 0.5rem 0;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_explanation code {\n  background: #fef9f4; 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\/* makes it the reference for absolute children *\/\n}\n\n.wp_blog_toggle-btn {\n  position: absolute;\n  top: 1rem;\n  right: 1rem;\n  z-index: 9999;\n  padding: 0.5rem 0.8rem;\n  border-radius: 10%;\n  background: var(--primary);\n  color: white;\n  font-weight: bold;\n  cursor: pointer;\n  border: none;\n  box-shadow: var(--shadow);\n  transition: background 0.3s, transform 0.2s;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_toggle-btn:hover {\n  background: #cc772e;\n}\n\n.wp_blog_theme.dark-mode .wp_blog_code-tabs-container {\n  background: #1e1e1e;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"wp_blog_container wp_blog_theme\">\n            <button id=\"blogNotesThemeToggle\" class=\"wp_blog_toggle-btn\">\ud83c\udf19<\/button>\n\n<h1 class=\"wp_blog_main-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n<div class=\"wp_blog_explanation\">\n    <h2>Bucket Sort<\/h2>\n    <p>\n        <strong>\n            Distribution &#8211; <code>based sorting algorithms.<\/code>\n        <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <h2>Example<\/h2>\n    <p><strong>[0.70, 0.17,  0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.23, 0.68]<\/strong><\/p>\n    <ul>\n        <li>bucket[1] = [0.17]<\/li>\n        <li>bucket[2] = [0.21, 0.23, 0.26]<\/li>\n        <li>bucket[3] = [0.39]<\/li>\n        <li>bucket[6] = [0.68]<\/li>\n        <li>bucket[7] = [0,70, 0.72]<\/li>\n        <li>bucket[9] = [0.94]<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n    <p>\n        <strong>\n        Now, if we read from top to bottom:\n        <\/strong>\n        <code>\n            [0.17, 0.21, 0.23, 0.26, 0.39, 0.68, 0.70, 0.72, 0.94]\n        <\/code>\n        <i>Hence, the data is Sorted.<\/i>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>If all elements fall into a <code>single bucket<\/code>, then traditional sorting algorithms must be used. The main advantage of Bucket Sort lies in distribution\u2014if the data is distributed properly, sorting becomes very efficient. \n<\/p>\n\n    <p>\n        <strong>Bucket Sort<\/strong> is mainly used when the data range is known. If the range is clear, Bucket Sort becomes easy to apply.\n    <\/p>\n\n    <h2>Time Complexity<\/h2>\n    <p><strong><code>Average Case:<\/code> O(d * (n + k))<\/strong><\/p>\n    <p>where k: number of buckets<\/p>\n    <ul>\n        <li>if the distribution is;\n            <ul>\n                <li>each bucket has few elements<\/li>\n                <li>sorting individual bucket is cheap<\/li>\n            <\/ul>       \n        <\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n    <p><strong><code>Worst Case:<\/code> O(n<sup>2<\/sup>)<\/strong> all element in the same bucket<\/p>\n    \n    <h2>Space Complexity<\/h2>\n    <p><strong>O(n + k)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp_blog_code-tabs-container\">\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tabs-header\">\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button active\" data-lang=\"js\">\n            JavaScript\n        <\/button>\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"py\">Python<\/button>\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"java\">Java<\/button>\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"cpp\">C++<\/button>\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"c\">C<\/button>\n        <button class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-button\" data-lang=\"cs\">C#<\/button>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content active\" data-lang=\"js\">\n       \n<pre><code class=\"language-javascript\">\nfunction bucketSort(arr) {\n    let n = arr.length;\n    \n    let buckets = Array.from({ length: n}, () => []);\n    \n    for(let x of arr){\n        let index = Math.floor(x * n)\n        buckets[index].push(x);\n    }\n    \n    for(let bucket of buckets){\n        bucket.sort((a, b) => a - b);\n    }\n    let i = 0;\n    for(let bucket of buckets) {\n        for(let num of bucket) {\n            arr[i++] = num;\n        }\n    }\n    return arr;\n}\n\n \nconst nums = [0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68]\nconsole.log(bucketSort(nums));\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n<\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"py\">\n        <pre><code class=\"language-python\">\ndef bucketSort(arr):\n    n = len(arr)\n\n    buckets = [[] for _ in range(n)]\n\n    for x in arr:\n        index = int(x * n)\n        buckets[index].append(x)\n\n    for bucket in buckets:\n        bucket.sort()\n\n    i = 0\n    for bucket in buckets:\n        for num in bucket:\n            arr[i] = num\n            i += 1\n\n    return arr\n\n\nnums = [0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68]\nprint(bucketSort(nums))\n    <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"java\">\n        <pre><code class=\"language-java\">\nimport java.util.*;\n\npublic class BucketSort {\n\n    static double[] bucketSort(double[] arr) {\n        int n = arr.length;\n\n        List<Double>[] buckets = new ArrayList[n];\n        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n            buckets[i] = new ArrayList<>();\n        }\n\n        for (double x : arr) {\n            int index = (int)(x * n);\n            buckets[index].add(x);\n        }\n\n        for (List<Double> bucket : buckets) {\n            Collections.sort(bucket);\n        }\n\n        int i = 0;\n        for (List<Double> bucket : buckets) {\n            for (double num : bucket) {\n                arr[i++] = num;\n            }\n        }\n\n        return arr;\n    }\n\n    public static void main(String[] args) {\n        double[] nums = {0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68};\n        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(bucketSort(nums)));\n    }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"cpp\">\n        <pre><code class=\"language-cpp\">\n#include &lt;bits\/stdc++.h&gt;\nusing namespace std;\n\nvector<double> bucketSort(vector<double>& arr) {\n    int n = arr.size();\n\n    vector<vector<double>> buckets(n);\n\n    for (double x : arr) {\n        int index = x * n;\n        buckets[index].push_back(x);\n    }\n\n    for (auto& bucket : buckets) {\n        sort(bucket.begin(), bucket.end());\n    }\n\n    int i = 0;\n    for (auto& bucket : buckets) {\n        for (double num : bucket) {\n            arr[i++] = num;\n        }\n    }\n\n    return arr;\n}\n\nint main() {\n    vector<double> nums = {0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68};\n    bucketSort(nums);\n\n    for (double x : nums) cout << x << \" \";\n    return 0;\n}\n    <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"c\">\n        <pre><code class=\"language-c\">\n#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;\n#include &lt;stdlib.h&gt;\n\nvoid bucketSort(double arr[], int n) {\n    double** buckets = (double**)malloc(n * sizeof(double*));\n    int* sizes = (int*)calloc(n, sizeof(int));\n\n    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n        buckets[i] = (double*)malloc(n * sizeof(double));\n    }\n\n    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n        int index = (int)(arr[i] * n);\n        buckets[index][sizes[index]++] = arr[i];\n    }\n\n    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n        for (int j = 0; j < sizes[i] - 1; j++) {\n            for (int k = j + 1; k < sizes[i]; k++) {\n                if (buckets[i][j] > buckets[i][k]) {\n                    double temp = buckets[i][j];\n                    buckets[i][j] = buckets[i][k];\n                    buckets[i][k] = temp;\n                }\n            }\n        }\n    }\n\n    int idx = 0;\n    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n        for (int j = 0; j < sizes[i]; j++) {\n            arr[idx++] = buckets[i][j];\n        }\n    }\n}\n\nint main() {\n    double nums[] = {0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68};\n    int n = sizeof(nums) \/ sizeof(nums[0]);\n\n    bucketSort(nums, n);\n\n    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)\n        printf(\"%f \", nums[i]);\n\n    return 0;\n}\n    <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"wp_blog_code-tab-content\" data-lang=\"cs\">\n        <pre><code class=\"language-csharp\">\nusing System;\nusing System.Collections.Generic;\nusing System.Linq;\n\nclass Program {\n\n    static double[] bucketSort(double[] arr) {\n        int n = arr.Length;\n\n        List<double>[] buckets = new List<double>[n];\n        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {\n            buckets[i] = new List<double>();\n        }\n\n        foreach (double x in arr) {\n            int index = (int)(x * n);\n            buckets[index].Add(x);\n        }\n\n        foreach (var bucket in buckets) {\n            bucket.Sort();\n        }\n\n        int iIndex = 0;\n        foreach (var bucket in buckets) {\n            foreach (double num in bucket) {\n                arr[iIndex++] = num;\n            }\n        }\n\n        return arr;\n    }\n\n    static void Main() {\n        double[] nums = {0.78, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.12, 0.23, 0.68};\n        Console.WriteLine(string.Join(\" \", bucketSort(nums)));\n    }\n}\n  <\/code><\/pre>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script>\ndocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", () => {\n  const buttons = document.querySelectorAll(\".wp_blog_code-tab-button\");\n  const contents = document.querySelectorAll(\".wp_blog_code-tab-content\");\n\n  buttons.forEach((button) => {\n    button.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n      const lang = button.getAttribute(\"data-lang\");\n\n      buttons.forEach((btn) => btn.classList.remove(\"active\"));\n      contents.forEach((content) => content.classList.remove(\"active\"));\n\n      button.classList.add(\"active\");\n      document\n        .querySelector(`.wp_blog_code-tab-content[data-lang=\"${lang}\"]`)\n        .classList.add(\"active\");\n    });\n  });\n\n  const themeToggle = document.getElementById(\"blogNotesThemeToggle\");\n  const themeContainer = document.querySelector(\".wp_blog_theme\");\n\n  themeToggle.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n    themeContainer.classList.toggle(\"dark-mode\");\n    themeToggle.textContent =\n      themeContainer.classList.contains(\"dark-mode\") ? \"\u2600\ufe0f\" : \"\ud83c\udf19\";\n  });\n});\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83c\udf19 Bucket Sort Distribution &#8211; based sorting algorithms. Example [0.70, 0.17, 0.39, 0.26, 0.72, 0.94, 0.21, 0.23, 0.68] bucket[1] = [0.17] bucket[2] = [0.21, 0.23, 0.26] bucket[3] = [0.39] bucket[6] = [0.68] bucket[7] = [0,70, 0.72] bucket[9] = [0.94] Now, if we read from top to bottom: [0.17, 0.21, 0.23, 0.26, 0.39, 0.68, 0.70, 0.72,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210,322,260,176,175,211,811,810,174,172,173],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-algorithms","7":"category-algorithms-and-data-structures","8":"category-c-c-plus-plus","9":"category-csharp","10":"category-cplusplus","11":"category-data-structures","12":"category-data-structures-and-algorithms","13":"category-dsa","14":"category-java","15":"category-javascript","16":"category-python"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11491,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11480\/revisions\/11491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/namastedev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}