Cascade merge sort is similar to the

polyphase merge sort A polyphase merge sort is a variation of a bottom-up merge sort that sorts a list using an initial uneven distribution of sub-lists (runs), primarily used for external sorting, and is more efficient than an ordinary merge sort when there are fewer ...

but uses a simpler distribution. The merge is slower than a polyphase merge when there are fewer than six files, but faster when there are more than six.

References

External links

* http://www.minkhollow.ca/Courses/461/Notes/Cosequential/Cascade.html {{sorting Comparison sorts Stable sorts