Sort order dilemma

Ruby
1

I’ve got a array that I need sorted in a certain way and I’m struggling
to figure out how to make it happen the way I want.

Basically the array needs to be sorted like this:

[A, B, C, AA, AB, AF ]

that is, a single alpha character before it sorts the next character.
However, what I end up with when I sort is:

[A, AA, AB, AF, B, C]

How would I sort A to Z then AA-ZZ?

Wayne

2

array.sort_by {|s| [s.size, s]}

3

On Nov 1, 11:34pm, Isaac S. [email protected] wrote:

end
You should probably try the code you’re providing as a solution. That
cuts down on the stuff that a) raises exceptions, and b) doesn’t solve
the problem even when the exceptions are gone.

4

Errr, yah. I almost had it there. sry, I was doing calc hw, and saw the
message, the thought didn’t process…

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 11:49 PM, Yossef M.
[email protected]wrote:

end
end

You should probably try the code you’re providing as a solution. That
cuts down on the stuff that a) raises exceptions, and b) doesn’t solve
the problem even when the exceptions are gone.

–
-yossef

–
Sincerely,

Isaac S.
Section C-4B Vice Chief, Order of the Arrow
Vice Chief of Administration, Tecumseh #65
Eagle Scout

5

On Nov 1, 2011, at 10:28 PM, Jan wrote:

array.sort_by {|s| [s.size, s]}

Wow, thanks Jan that was it :slight_smile:

Wayne

6

arr.sort do |x,y|
if x.length < y.length
return 1
elsif x.length > y.length
return -1
else
x <=> y
end
end

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Wayne B.
[email protected]wrote:

[A, AA, AB, AF, B, C]

How would I sort A to Z then AA-ZZ?

Wayne

–
Sincerely,

Isaac S.
Section C-4B Vice Chief, Order of the Arrow
Vice Chief of Administration, Tecumseh #65
Eagle Scout

7

On Nov 1, 2011, at 10:28 PM, Jan wrote:

array.sort_by {|s| [s.size, s]}

That’s an incredibly elegant solution, thanks for sharing! :slight_smile:

8

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Sam R. [email protected] wrote:

On Nov 1, 2011, at 10:28 PM, Jan wrote:

array.sort_by {|s| [s.size, s]}

That’s an incredibly elegant solution, thanks for sharing! :slight_smile:

In case you find the temporary structure created for sorting inelegant
you can do this:

irb(main):006:0* a = %w{A AA AB AF B C}
=> [“A”, “AA”, “AB”, “AF”, “B”, “C”]
irb(main):007:0> a.sort {|x,y| (x.length <=> y.length).nonzero? or x <=>
y}
=> [“A”, “B”, “C”, “AA”, “AB”, “AF”]

Kind regards

robert