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Ruby program to sort an array with command line arguments

Last Updated : December 15, 2025

Sorting an array in Ruby

In this program, we are introducing the concept of command line arguments. Command line arguments can be taken from the users with the help of 'ARGV' keyword. Command line arguments are nothing but the input provided to the program code with the help of command line. We have to sort those command line arguments with the help of any method and provide the sorted strings as the output of the code.

Methods used

• .length: This method is used to find the length of the object. Here, we are employing it to find the number of arguments provided by the user.
• puts: This is a very common yet important method. It is used to put strings as message on the console. here we are printing elements of array with the help of this method.

Variables used

• str: This container is used to store the command line arguments.
• ch: It is used to store the temporary string. It is employed during sorting.
• l: It is storing the value being returned from the str.length function.
• i: It is a loop variable.
• j: It is also a loop variable used for sorting.

Ruby code to sort an array with command line arguments

=begin
Ruby program to sort an array with command line arguments
=end

str = ARGV #taking input from command line
l = str.length
ch = "" #temporary string

for i in 1..l
	for j in 0..l-1
		#comparison of strings
		if(str[j].to_s>str[j+1].to_s) 
			ch=str[j]
			str[j] = str[j+1]
			str[j+1]=ch
		end
	end
end

puts str

Output

Run 1:
Amisha Satyam Ayush Saksham Nikhil

Amisha
Ayush
Hrithik
Nikhil
Saksham
Satyam

Run 2:
Orange Banana Pineapple Papaya

Apple
Banana
Orange
Papaya
Pineapple

Code logic

In the above code, we are taking strings as input from the command line. These strings are referred to as command-line arguments. We have declared a temporary string named ch. We are applying a very common sorting method in which two loops are employed. Strings are compared and whatever the result comes out, further steps are implemented accordingly.