Stable sorting algorithms maintain the relative order of records with equal keys (i.e. values). That is, a sorting algorithm is stable if whenever there are two records R and S with the same key and with R appearing before S in the original list, R will appear before S in the sorted list.

Which sorting algorithms are stable?

Several common sorting algorithms are stable by nature, such as Merge Sort, Timsort, Counting Sort, Insertion Sort, and Bubble Sort. Others such as Quicksort, Heapsort and Selection Sort are unstable.

What makes sorting stable?

A sorting algorithm is said to be stable if two objects with equal keys appear in the same order in sorted output as they appear in the input array to be sorted. Some sorting algorithms are stable by nature like Insertion sort, Merge Sort, Bubble Sort, etc.