>keeping this info in a hash won't work, since I'd have
>duplicate keys
[download]

I'm looking at your info now, and, call me crazy, but you wouldn't have duplicate keys if you used the second item, the baskets and box and whatever, as the key, only if you used the numbers.

And you can sort a hash by its keys or its values, so ... what's the problem exactly?
--

“Every bit of code is either naturally related to the problem at hand, or else it's an accidental side effect of the fact that you happened to solve the problem using a digital computer.”
M-J D