Let's try again, with a more C++14 like solution: sort(v.begin(),v.end(),[](const auto x, const auto y) { return *x > *y; }); instead of your line 39:

Let's try again, with a more C++14 like solution: sort(v.begin(),v.end(),[](const auto x, const auto y) { return *x > *y; }); instead of your line 39: sort(v.begin(),v.end(),[](const string *x, const string *y) { return *x > *y; }); Some results: • g++ 4.9.2 with O3 qsort 545ms, sort 7289ms • clang with O3 and libc++ qsort 551ms, sort 844ms I've used: clang++ -std=c++1y -stdlib=libc++ -O3 test.cpp and g++-4.9.2 -std=c++14 -O3 test.cpp