NAME

Sort::Array - This extended sorting algorithm allows you to

a) sort an array by ANY field number, not only the first. b) find duplicates in your data-set and sort them out.

The function is case-sensitive. Future versions might come without this limitation.

SYNOPSIS

use Sort::Array qw(
    Sort_Table
    Discard_Duplicates
);
@data = Sort_Table(
    cols      => '4',
    field     => '4',
    sorting   => 'descending',
    structure => 'csv',
    separator => '\*',
    data      => \@data,
);
@languages = Discard_Duplicates(
    sorting      => 'ascending',
    empty_fields => 'delete',
    data         => \@languages,
);

DESCRIPTION

Sort_Table() is capable of sorting table-form arrays by a particular value.

Discard_Duplicates() discards doubles from an array and returns the sorted array.

Usage

@data = Sort_Table(
    cols      => '4',
    field     => '4',
    sorting   => 'descending',
    structure => 'csv',
    separator => '\*',
    data      => \@data,
);

@languages = Discard_Duplicates(
    sorting      => 'ascending',
    empty_fields => 'delete',
    data         => \@languages,
);

cols

How many columns in a line. Integer beginning at
1 (not 0) (for better readability).
e.g.: '4' = Four fields at one line. ($array[0..3])
- Utilizable only in Sort_Table()
- Must be declared

field

Which column should be used for sorting. Integer
beginning at 1 (not 0).
e.g.: '4' = Sorting the fourth field. ($array[3])
- Utilizable only in Sort_Table()
- Must be declared

sorting

In which order should be sorted.
e.g.: 'ascending' or 'descending'
- Utilizable in Sort_Table()
- Must be declared

- Utilizable in Discard_Duplicates()
- Can be declared (if empty, it does not sort the array)

empty_fields

Should empty fields removed
e.g.: 'delete' or not specified
- Utilizable only in Discard_Duplicates()
- Can be declared

structure

Structure of that Array.
e.g.: 'csv' or 'single'
- Utilizable only in Sort_Table()
- Must be declared

separator

Which separator should be used? Only needed when
structure => 'csv' is set. If left empty default
is ";".
For ?+*{} as a separator you must mask it since
it is a RegEx.
e.g.: \? or \* ...
- Utilizable only in Sort_Table()
- Must be declared when using 'csv' or ';'
    will be used.

data

Reference to the array that should be sorted.
- Utilizable in Sort_Table() and Discard_Duplicates()
- Must be declared

If everything went right, Sort_Table() returns an array containing your sorted Array. The structure from the imput-array is kept although it's sorted. ;)

Returncodes

If an error occurs, than will be returned an undefinied array and set $Sort::Array::error with one of the following code. Normally $Sort::Array::error is 0.

The following codes are returned, if an error occurs:

'100'

<cols> is empty or not set or contains wrong content.

'101'

<field> is emtpy or not set or contains wrong content.

'102'

<sorting> is empty or contains not 'ascending' or 'descending'.

'103'

<structure> is empty or contains not 'csv' or 'single'.

'104'

<data> is empty (your reference array).

EXAMPLES

Here are some short samples. These should help you getting used to Sort::Array

Sorting CSV-Lines in an array

my @data = (
   '00003*layout-3*19990803*0.30',
   '00002*layout-2*19990802*0.20',
   '00004*layout-4*19990804*0.40',
   '00001*layout-1*19990801*0.10',
   '00005*layout-5*19990805*0.50',
   '00007*layout-7*19990807*0.70',
   '00006*layout-6*19990806*0.60',
);

@data = Sort_Table(
    cols      => '4',
    field     => '4',
    sorting   => 'descending',
    structure => 'csv',
    separator => '\*',
    data      => \@data,
);

Returns an array (with CSV-Lines):

00007*layout-7*19990807*0.70
00006*layout-6*19990806*0.60
00005*layout-5*19990805*0.50
00004*layout-4*19990804*0.40
00003*layout-3*19990803*0.30
00002*layout-2*19990802*0.20
00001*layout-1*19990801*0.10

Sorting single-fields in an array

my @data = (
   '00003', 'layout-3', '19990803', '0.30',
   '00002', 'layout-2', '19990802', '0.20',
   '00004', 'layout-4', '19990804', '0.40',
   '00001', 'layout-1', '19990801', '0.10',
   '00005', 'layout-5', '19990805', '0.50',
   '00007', 'layout-7', '19990807', '0.70',
   '00006', 'layout-6', '19990806', '0.60',
);

@data = Sort_Table(
    cols      => '4',
    field     => '4',
    sorting   => 'descending',
    structure => 'single',
    data      => \@data,
);

Returns an array (with single fields)

00007 layout-7 19990807 0.70
00006 layout-6 19990806 0.60
00005 layout-5 19990805 0.50
00004 layout-4 19990804 0.40
00003 layout-3 19990803 0.30
00002 layout-2 19990802 0.20
00001 layout-1 19990801 0.10

Discard duplicates in an array:

my @languages = (
    '',
    'German',
    'Dutch',
    'English',
    'Spanish',
    '',
    'German',
    'Spanish',
    'English',
    'Dutch',
);

@languages = Discard_Duplicates(
    sorting      => 'ascending',
    empty_fields => 'delete',
    data         => \@languages,
);

Returns an array (with single fields):

Dutch
English
German
Spanish

BUGS

No Bugs known for now. ;)

HISTORY

- 2001-08-25 / 0.26

File permission fixed, now anybody can extract the archive, not only the user 'root'.

- 2001-08-23 / 0.25

Changed the Discard_Duplicates() function to discard duplicates and only sort the array if wished. You can set <sorting> to 'asending', 'desending' or let them empty to disable sorting.

Some misspelling corrected.

- 2001-08-17 / 0.24

Error codes are no longer returned in an array (that array that contains the sorted Data). $Sort::Array::error is used with the code instead.

- 2001-07-28 / 0.23

First beta-release, non-public

AUTHOR

Michael Diekmann, <michael.diekmann@undef.de>

THANKS

Rainer Luedtke, <sirbedivere@freshfish.de>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2001 Michael Diekmann <michael.diekmann@undef.de>. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

perl(1).

cpanm Sort::Array

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Sort::Array