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Re: how to sort a list
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Re: how to sort a list


  • Subject: Re: how to sort a list
  • From: Graff <email@hidden>
  • Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 21:50:19 -0400

I just realized that this handler has some assumptions that can be gotchas so I thought I'd mention them:

1) the items in the list should all be of the same class
2) you have to be able to use the comparison operator greater than (>) on the items

As long as these conditions are true then the sort will work. Otherwise you an get some pretty odd results or the script might fail altogether.

- Ken

On May 13, 2004, at 9:09 PM, Graff wrote:

You could use the shell or you could implement your own sort routine. If the list you are sorting is pretty short then a bubble sort is the best thing:
------
on BubbleSort(theList)
if class of theList is list then
set theSize to length of theList
repeat with i from 1 to theSize
repeat with j from 2 to (theSize - i + 1)
if ((item (j - 1) of theList) > (item j of theList)) then
set temp to (item (j - 1) of theList)
set (item (j - 1) of theList) to (item j of theList)
set (item j of theList) to temp
end if
end repeat
end repeat
return theList
else
return false
end if
end bubblesort

BubbleSort({"c", "b", "e", "a", "d"})
--> {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"}

BubbleSort({name:"bill", age:12})
--> false
------

If you have really large lists (on the order of thousands of items) then you might want to do a shell or quick sort. I have those implemented in AppleScript so let me know if you need them. Honestly though, if you are sorting more than a few thousand items with AppleScript then you might want to look at going to another language such as C or Java or the like.

- Ken

On May 13, 2004, at 4:00 PM, Andre Vink wrote:

Hi list,

how to sort a list?

{ "c", "b", "e", "a", "d" }
to
{ "a", "b", "c", "d", "e" }

andre
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References: 
 >how to sort a list (From: Andre Vink <email@hidden>)
 >Re: how to sort a list (From: Graff <email@hidden>)

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