Sort strings, length. How can we sort an array of strings in VB.NET by their lengths? This is more complex than a alphabetical sort—we must specifically sort on the Length property.

With the LINQ extensions to the language, we can use a query expression for this sort method. And with a method like ToArray we can convert the result into an array.

Example. This program starts with an array of unsorted Strings. The strings have varying lengths, and they are not ordered by their lengths.

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        ' Part 1: an array of unsorted strings with different lengths.
        Dim animals() = { "stegosaurus",
            "piranha",
            "leopard",
            "cat",
            "bear",
            "hyena" }

        ' Part 2: sort strings in array from shortest to longest (Ascending).
        Dim result = From a In animals
                     Order By a.Length Ascending

        ' Part 3: get array from sorted strings.
        Dim resultArray = result.ToArray()
        Console.WriteLine("Sorted array length: {0}", resultArray.Length)

        ' Part 4: print sorted strings.
        For Each animal in result
            Console.WriteLine(animal)
        Next
    End Sub
End Module
Sorted array length: 6
cat
bear
hyena
piranha
leopard
stegosaurus

Summary. With LINQ we have a way to sort collections without writing complex comparison functions. Instead we can just specify a single query, and call ToArray afterwards if needed.