Re: Sorting files you Have read

First suggestion: use your system's sort routine. While I think the *ix sort is better than the Windows sort, both are reliable, and quite fast.

As for sorting a list in Perl:

use strict;     # a good idea
use warnings;   # and another

my $input = 'myinput.txt';
open(my $in, "<", $input) or die "Could not open $input because $!\n";
@unsorted = <$in>;
chomp(@unsorted); # get rid of end-of-record markers
close($in);

@sorted = sort @unsorted;
[download]

will sort the @unsorted array, based on the entire string, with the output going to @sort. Note that this requires a copy of the entire file be in memory, which may be a Bad Idea. There are several tutorials, for example, here and here. And of, course, here.

emc

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation.

—Igor Sikorsky, reported in AOPA Pilot magazine February 2003.

Comment on Re: Sorting files you Have read Download Code

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Re^2: Sorting files you Have read by GrandFather (Saint) on Nov 16, 2006 at 23:16 UTC
If you are going to `use strict; use warnings;` (and it is a really really good idea), then you really really need to declare your variables: ;) `use strict; # a good idea use warnings; # and another my $input = 'myinput.txt'; open(my $in, "<", $input) or die "Could not open $input because $!\n"; my @unsorted = <$in>; chomp (@unsorted); # get rid of end-of-record markers close ($in); my @sorted = sort @unsorted;` [download] DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Sorting files you Have read by brusimm (Pilgrim) on Nov 16, 2006 at 23:34 UTC
Thank you, everyone This points me in the right direction I used to do IDL and Fortran (About 7 years ago..) but this seems harder. Sheesh.. is it me being out of the programming loop so long, or is see-nellity setting in? Maybe you shouldn't answer that!! Take care.	[reply]
Re^4: Sorting files you Have read by robot_tourist (Hermit) on Nov 17, 2006 at 16:48 UTC
You're OK. Perl is just different from what most people are used to. e.g. my CS modules at university (about 3 years ago) mostly used Java, and I have mostly hobby experience of C/C++, but I'd probably feel like you do now if I suddenly tried to do enterprise Java, use C++ templates, use C# or even use Perl in any meaningful way (my main work language is Delphi, although I do support some Perl projects I didn't develop). How can you feel when you're made of steel? I am made of steel. I am the Robot Tourist. Robot Tourist, by Ten Benson	[reply]
Re^2: Sorting files you Have read by brusimm (Pilgrim) on Nov 16, 2006 at 23:07 UTC
Hey swampyankee, thank you, but when I run the script, I get the following Global symbol "@unsorted" requires explicit package name at one-c.pl line 6. Global symbol "@unsorted" requires explicit package name at one-c.pl line 7. Global symbol "@sorted" requires explicit package name at one-c.pl line 10. Global symbol "@unsorted" requires explicit package name at one-c.pl line 10. Execution of one-c.pl aborted due to compilation errors. I am on an XP machine, if that has any bearing, but would there be something else amiss with my installation? The reason i ask is my first responder suggested some code and that looked like it ran successfully, but did not translate any result to the screen or a file. Now your code returns errors... hmm Any other thoughts?	[reply]
Re^3: Sorting files you Have read by swampyankee (Parson) on Nov 16, 2006 at 23:36 UTC
I cleverly forgot to declare @unsorted and @sorted. This is why one should (a) test code before posting and (b) use strict; and use warnings;. They do wonders to prevent things like: `@array = (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9); $sum+= $_ foreach @array; $mean = $sum/scalar(@aray);` [download] (Yes, I know scalar(@aray) is 0.) emc At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. —Igor Sikorsky, reported in AOPA Pilot magazine February 2003.	[reply] [d/l]


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