Yes, simple sorting requires a lot of memory, but even a more complex sort requires that at the very least you read each record once. Why not just grab the information while you are there, as in my example program above? I agree that a sorted file is far better, and you'd probably want to get it sorted at some point, but I would not call it the only "sane" way! :)

In reply to RE: Presort's Cost by turnstep
in thread Efficiency and Large Arrays by Kozz

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