Merge sort (or mergesort) is an algorithm. Algorithms do not have running times since running times are determined by the algorithm's performance/complexity, the programming language used to implement the algorithm and the hardware the implementation is executed upon. When we speak of algorithm running times we are actually referring to the algorithm's performance/complexity, which is typically notated using Big O notation.
Mergesort has a worst, best and average case performance of O(n log n). The natural variant which exploits already-sorted runs has a best case performance of O(n). The worst case space complexity is O(n) auxiliary.
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