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_numerical, sort_rev_numerical, sort_alphabetic, sort_rev_alphabetic

use Sort::DataTypes qw(:sort)

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(:sort)

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(:sort)

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

use Sort::DataTypes qw(:sort)

sort_domain(\@list);
sort_rev_domain(\@list);

sort_domain(\@list,%hash);
sort_rev_domain(\@list,%hash);

These sorts a list A.B.C.D... domain names. It is done starting with the last element in the domain, so foo.com comes before bar.edu.

sort_path, sort_rev_path

use Sort::DataTypes qw(:sort)

sort_path(\@list,$sep);
sort_rev_path(\@list,$sep);

sort_path(\@list,$sep,%hash);
sort_rev_path(\@list,$sep,%hash);

These sort anything in a path-type structure. This could include file paths, classes, etc.

A "path" in of the form "A.B.C..." where any separator string can be used to separate elements in the path. If $sep is passed in, it is the separator to use. If not passed in, it defaults to "/".

sort_random, sort_rev_random

use Sort::DataTypes qw(:sort)

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(:sort)

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(:sort)

sort_date(\@list);
sort_rev_date(\@list);

sort_date(\@list,%hash);
sort_rev_date(\@list,%hash);

These sorts a list of dates.

KNOWN PROBLEMS

None at this point.

AUTHOR

Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)