in reply to Sorting an array of strings when some of the strings have commas in them?

Test code updated to use sample data supplied:

#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use 5.016; chomp (my @data_lines = <DATA>); # Sort the data lines according to the "Company Name" field and then t +he "Invoice ID" field. @data_lines = sort { my ($company_name_a, $invoice_ID_a) = (split /\t/, $a)[1, 0]; my ($company_name_b, $invoice_ID_b) = (split /\t/, $b)[1, 0]; fc($company_name_a) cmp fc($company_name_b) or $invoice_ID_a <=> $invoice_ID_b } @data_lines; print "$_\n" for @data_lines; __DATA__ 1 SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS 2 MASQUE SOUND 3 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS 4 MASSTECH, INC 5 SE INTERNATIONAL 6 SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC 7 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC. 8 MASTERBILT

Prints:

2 MASQUE SOUND 4 MASSTECH, INC 8 MASTERBILT 5 SE INTERNATIONAL 3 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS 7 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC. 1 SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS 6 SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC

It ain't the sort. In fact making minimal changes to your sample code to use internal data:

#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use 5.016; # Open the file for input, discard all the header lines, but stop on a +nd save the column names in an array. # Read all the remaining lines in to an array and close the file. my $column_line = ""; $column_line = <DATA> while defined $column_line && !($column_line =~ +/Invoice ID/i); chomp(my @columns = split /\t/, $column_line); chomp(my @data_lines = <DATA>); # Sort the data lines according to the "Company Name" field and then t +he "Invoice ID" field. my ($company_name_index) = grep { $columns[$_] eq "Company Name" } (0. +.$#columns); my ($invoice_ID_index) = grep { $columns[$_] eq "Invoice ID" } (0..$#c +olumns); @data_lines = sort { my($company_name_a, $invoice_ID_a) = (split /\t/, $a)[$company_nam +e_index, $invoice_ID_index]; my($company_name_b, $invoice_ID_b) = (split /\t/, $b)[$company_nam +e_index, $invoice_ID_index]; fc($company_name_a) cmp fc($company_name_b) or $invoice_ID_a <=> $invoice_ID_b } @data_lines; # Open the file for output, print a new header and the column line to +it, then print the now sorted data to it and close the file. print "Replacement Header Text Here\n\n$column_line"; print "$_\n" foreach @data_lines; __DATA__ Original Header Text Invoice ID Company Name 1 SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS 2 MASQUE SOUND 3 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS 4 MASSTECH, INC 5 SE INTERNATIONAL 6 SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC 7 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC. 8 MASTERBILT

prints:

Replacement Header Text Here Invoice ID Company Name 2 MASQUE SOUND 4 MASSTECH, INC 8 MASTERBILT 5 SE INTERNATIONAL 3 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS 7 SEALEVEL SYSTEMS, INC. 1 SEBASTIAN COMMUNICATIONS 6 SOUTHEAST SERVO, LLC

so the issue isn't in any of the code you've supplied or the sample data you have supplied.

Your ball ...

Premature optimization is the root of all job security

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Re^2: Sorting an array of strings when some of the strings have commas in them?
by perldigious (Priest) on Dec 11, 2015 at 23:09 UTC

    Thanks, I figured it out and it was a rather dumb problem not even Perl related. I updated my original post to explain. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me out, it was actually when I was trying to test your sample code that I randomly stumbled on to my answer. I opened up my little test file to change the tabs to tildes and saw the mysterious double quotes that had been previously missing when viewed in Excel.