NAME Sort::DataTypes - Sort a list of data using methods relevant to the type of data SYNOPSIS use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all); DESCRIPTION This allows you to sort a list of data elements using methods that are relevant to the type of data it is. ROUTINES sort_valid_method use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) $flag = sort_valid_method($string); This returns 1 if there is a valid sort method named $string in the module. For example: sort_valid_method("numerical") => 1 sort_valid_method("foobar") => 0 sort_by_method use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_by_method($method,\@list [,@args]); This sorts a list using the given method (which is any string which returns 1 when passed to sort_valid_method. @args are arguments to pass to the sort. If the method is not valid, the list is left untouched. sort_numerical, sort_rev_numerical, sort_alphabetic, sort_rev_alphabetic use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_numerical(\@list); sort_rev_numerical(\@list); These sorts a list numerically or alphabetically (normal or reverse). There's little reason to use these... but are included for the sake of completeness. sort_numerical(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_numerical(\@list,%hash); These sort a list based on a hash. Every element in @list has a key in %hash, and the values of those keys determine the order of the list elements. They are sorted alphabetically or numerically. sort_length, sort_rev_length use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_length(\@list); sort_rev_length(\@list); sort_length(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_length(\@list,%hash); These sorts a list of strings by length. sort_ip, sort_rev_ip use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_ip(\@list); sort_rev_ip(\@list); sort_ip(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_ip(\@list,%hash); These sorts a list A.B.C.D IP numbers. sort_domain, sort_rev_domain, sort_numdomain, sort_rev_numdomain use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_domain(\@list [,$sep]); sort_rev_domain(\@list [,$sep]); sort_domain(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_domain(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); This sorts domain names (A.B.C...) or anything else consisting of a class, subclass, subsubclass, etc., with the most significant class at the right. Elements in the domain are separated from each other by a period (.) unless $sep is passed in. If $sep is passed in, it is a regular expression to split the elements in a domain. Since the most significan element in the domain is at the right, any domain ending with ".com" would come before any domain ending in ".edu". a.b < z.b < a.bb < z.bb < a.c A related type of sorting is: sort_numdomain(\@list [,$sep]); sort_rev_numdomain(\@list [,$sep]); sort_numdomain(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_numdomain(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); numdomain sorting is identical to domain sorting except that if two elements in the domain are integers, numerical sorts will be done. So: a.11.c < a.2.c sort_path, sort_rev_path, sort_numpath, sort_rev_numpath use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_path(\@list [,$sep]); sort_rev_path(\@list [,$sep]); sort_path(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_path(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); This sorts paths (/A/B/C...) or anything else consisting of a class, subclass, subsubclass, etc., with the most significant class at the left. Elements in a path are separated from each other by a slash (/) unless $sep is passed in. If $sep is passed in, it is a regular expression to split the elements in a path. Since the most significan element in the domain is at the left, you get the following behavior: a/b < a/z < aa/b < aa/z < b/b A related type of sorting is: sort_numpath(\@list [,$sep]); sort_rev_numpath(\@list [,$sep]); sort_numpath(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_numpath(\@list [,$sep] ,%hash); numpath sorting is identical to path sorting except that if two elements in the path are integers, numerical sorts will be done. So: a/2/c < a/11/c sort_random, sort_rev_random use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_random(\@list); sort_rev_random(\@list); sort_random(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_random(\@list,%hash); This uses the Fisher-Yates algorithm to randomly shuffle an array in place. This routine was taken from the book The Perl Cookbook Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington The sort_rev_random is identical, and is included simply for the situation where the sort routines are being called in some automatically generated code that may add the 'rev_' prefix. sort_version, sort_rev_version use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_version(\@list); sort_rev_version(\@list); sort_version(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_version(\@list,%hash); These sorts a list of version numbers of the form MAJOR.MINOR.SUBMINOR ... (any number of levels are allowed). The following examples should illustrate the ordering: 1.1.x < 1.2 < 1.2.x Numerical versions are compared first at the highest level, then at the next highest, etc. The first non-equal compare sets the order. 1.a < 1.b Alphanumeric levels that start with a letter are compared alphabetically. 1.2a < 1.2 < 1.03a Alphanumeric levels that start with a number are first compared numerically with only the numeric part. If they are equal, alphanumeric levels come before purely numerical levels. Otherwise, they are compared alphabetically. 1.a < 1.2a An alphanumeric level that starts with a letter comes before one that starts with a number. 1.01a < 1.1a Two alphanumeric levels that are numerically equal in the number part and equal in the remaining part are compared alphabetically. sort_date, sort_rev_date use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_date(\@list); sort_rev_date(\@list); sort_date(\@list,%hash); sort_rev_date(\@list,%hash); These sorts a list of dates. Dates are anything that can be parsed with Date::Manip. sort_line, sort_rev_line, sort_numline, sort_rev_numline use Sort::DataTypes qw(:all) sort_line(\@list,$n [,$sep]); sort_rev_line(\@list,$n [,$sep]); sort_line(\@list,$n [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_line(\@list,$n [,$sep] ,%hash); These take a list of lines and sort on the Nth field using $sep as the regular expression splitting the lines into fields. If no $sep is given, it defaults to white space. sort_numline(\@list,$n [,$sep]); sort_rev_numline(\@list,$n [,$sep]); sort_numline(\@list,$n [,$sep] ,%hash); sort_rev_numline(\@list,$n [,$sep] ,%hash); These are similar but will sort numerically if the Nth field is an integer, and alphabetically otherwise. KNOWN PROBLEMS None at this point. AUTHOR Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)