First Perl Question - about sorting numeric arrays

[BKennedy]

Hello,

Well here goes my first newbie PERL question for the gurus of this
group. My issue is with using the SORT instruction. Below you'll
find the printed contents of 5 element array before and after a
'sorting'. Is the 'sorting' being performed on the references and not
the contents? I don't understand why the numbers are sometimes not in
proper sequence after the SORT. (Shouldn't the second printing of the
first array read : 5 9 13 13 14 ?)

for $a(0..3)
{
for($i=0;$i<5;$i++)
{
$array[$i] = int(rand(19) +1);
}
print("$a\t @array \n");
@array = sort @array;
print("$a\t @array \n");
}

Results:
0 14 13 13 9 5
0 13 13 14 5 9
1 11 10 5 12 15
1 10 11 12 15 5
2 8 16 7 14 13
2 13 14 16 7 8
3 12 6 12 5 4
3 12 12 4 5 6

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

-Bkennedy

 

[Jack D.]

Hello,

Well here goes my first newbie PERL question for the gurus of this
group. My issue is with using the SORT instruction. Below you'll
find the printed contents of 5 element array before and after a
'sorting'. Is the 'sorting' being performed on the references and not
the contents? I don't understand why the numbers are sometimes not in
proper sequence after the SORT. (Shouldn't the second printing of the
first array read : 5 9 13 13 14 ?)

for $a(0..3)
{
for($i=0;$i<5;$i++)
{
$array[$i] = int(rand(19) +1);
}
print("$a\t @array \n");

Stop right here. Read:

perldoc -q sort

before you write your next line.

 

[Sam Holden]

Hello,

Well here goes my first newbie PERL question for the gurus of this
group. My issue is with using the SORT instruction. Below you'll
find the printed contents of 5 element array before and after a
'sorting'. Is the 'sorting' being performed on the references and not
the contents? I don't understand why the numbers are sometimes not in
proper sequence after the SORT. (Shouldn't the second printing of the
first array read : 5 9 13 13 14 ?)

No because you are doing a string sort and the string "5" comes
later than the string "13" when sorted into dictionary order,
just like "e" comes after "ac".

perldoc -f sort

Provides numerous examples on how to use the sort function,
including sorting numerically.

You should read the posting guileines that are posted here frequently.
It is also available at:
http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.html

 

[BKennedy]

perldoc -f sort

Provides numerous examples on how to use the sort function,
including sorting numerically.

You should read the posting guileines that are posted here frequently.
It is also available at:
http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.html

Thank you both and your help got me to my answer. Also, I followed
the augustmail link and will now abide by the 'rules'. Thanks again.