How to sort array of strings which contains both negative and positive numbers in c++.?

Another solution is to implement your own comparison function:

• Check the first character of both strings. If one starts with a digit and the other starts with a -, then the string that starts with - is the smaller number.
• If both strings start with a digit, then compare the length of the strings. The shorter string is the smaller number. If both strings are the same length, perform a standard string compare.
• If both strings start with -, then compare the length of the strings. The longer string is the smaller number. If both strings are the same length, perform a standard string compare, but negate the result.

Here's a minimal and potentially insufficient (doesn't handle leading zeroes, whitespace, etc.) example that does what you'd like.

The comments explain what it's doing. :)

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

int main() {
  std::vector<std::string> strings = {
      "-1", "-1", "-20", "-4", "3", "0", "-0", "1", "20", "20", "44020",
  };

  // Assumes everything in "strings" has no whitespace in it.
  // Assumes everything in "strings" does not have leading zeroes.
  // Assumes everything in "strings" is an ascii representaion of an integer.
  // Assumes everything in "strings" is nonempty.
  std::sort(strings.begin(), strings.end(),
            [](const std::string &a, const std::string &b) {
              const bool a_is_negative = a[0] == '-';
              const bool b_is_negative = b[0] == '-';
              if (a_is_negative != b_is_negative) {
                // If they have different signs, then whichever is negative is
                // smaller.
                return a_is_negative;
              } else if (a.length() != b.length()) {
                // If they have the same sign, then whichever has more
                // characters is larger in magnitude. When the sign is negative,
                // the longer (more digits) number is "more negative". When
                // positive, the longer (more digits) number is "more positive".
                return (a.length() < b.length()) != a_is_negative;
              } else {
                // Otherwise a lexicographic comparison of "a" and "b" will
                // determine which string is larger in magnitude. Using the same
                // logic above, we account for the "negative vs. positive"
                // comparison.
                return (a < b) != a_is_negative;
              }
            });

  for (const auto &str : strings) {
    std::cout << str << " ";
  }
  std::cout << std::endl;
}