Sorting network
![A simple sorting network consisting of four wires and five connectors](/Images/godic/202501/31/SimpleSortingNetwork2.svg0909.png")
![Demonstration of a comparator in a sorting network.](/Images/godic/202501/31/Sorting-network-comparator-demonstration.svg0909.png")
![](/Images/godic/202501/31/SimpleSortingNetworkFullOperation.svg0909.png")
![A sorting network constructed recursively that first sinks the largest value to the bottom and then sorts the remaining wires. Based on bubble sort](/Images/godic/202501/31/Recursive-bubble-sorting-network.svg0909.png")
In computer science, comparator networks are abstract devices built up of a fixed number of "wires", carrying values, and comparator modules that connect pairs of wires, swapping the values on the wires if they are not in a desired order. Such networks are typically designed to perform sorting on fixed numbers of values, in which case they are called sorting networks.