Out-of-place algorithm

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An algorithm works out-of-place when the output data is saved separately and the input data is not overwritten. Algorithms that work directly on and modify the input data work in-place .

With more complete or partial memory representations of the data to be processed, an out-of-place algorithm usually uses more memory than an in-place algorithm.

Examples of such an algorithm are bucket sort or merge sort . The latter requires additional storage space to save the new shared lists.