There are a couple things that sorting can do for you, but they are won't necessarily happen if you supply your own comparison function.

• You can tell if some string you are interested would come before or after an arbitrary item in the sorted output.
• All "identical" items will appear together.

As you say, it won’t necessarily happen, but it usually does, because you know what your comparison function is doing.

Tail:

menorrhoeic pinnisected chimaerid weighable foregone plastochrone Alf gravamen hemen preabdomen metanomen praenomen Carmen acumen tegumen bitumen prolusion Malabar watercress usheress speechcraft unshrew windingly xyzzy

Length:

Alf hemen xyzzy acumen Carmen bitumen Malabar tegumen unshrew foregone gravamen usheress chimaerid metanomen praenomen prolusion weighable windingly preabdomen watercress menorrhoeic pinnisected speechcraft plastochrone

By vowels:

Alf Malabar gravamen Carmen watercress praenomen plastochrone acumen metanomen preabdomen hemen speechcraft weighable menorrhoeic tegumen chimaerid pinnisected windingly bitumen foregone prolusion unshrew usheress xyzzy

By consonants:

bitumen chimaerid acumen Carmen foregone gravamen hemen Alf Malabar menorrhoeic metanomen unshrew plastochrone pinnisected preabdomen prolusion praenomen usheress speechcraft tegumen weighable windingly watercress xyzzy

Syllable count:

Alf Carmen foregone hemen speechcraft unshrew acumen bitumen chimaerid gravamen Malabar plastochrone praenomen prolusion tegumen usheress watercress weighable windingly metanomen preabdomen menorrhoeic pinnisected xyzzy

Vowel count:

menorrhoeic weighable metanomen praenomen preabdomen chimaerid plastochrone pinnisected foregone prolusion Malabar gravamen speechcraft watercress tegumen usheress windingly acumen bitumen hemen xyzzy Carmen unshrew Alf

Consonant density:

xyzzy windingly acumen Alf bitumen Carmen chimaerid foregone gravamen hemen Malabar menorrhoeic metanomen pinnisected plastochrone praenomen preabdomen prolusion speechcraft tegumen unshrew usheress watercress weighable

Code point summation:

Alf hemen Carmen xyzzy acumen Malabar bitumen tegumen unshrew gravamen foregone usheress chimaerid weighable metanomen praenomen windingly prolusion preabdomen watercress speechcraft pinnisected menorrhoeic plastochrone

Of those, about the only one I can’t really pretty much eyeball is the last one, because I know what I am comparing and how. If those were the things I was looking into, I would certainly not want a bare sort for any of them.

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