Trying for the generic mixed case nightmare, in "obvious" mode: 
#!/your/perl/here

# demonstrate sorting numerically within a string
#
# for example, abc2xyz sorts before abc14xyz
#

use strict;
use warnings;

my @list = map { $_ . "\n" } qw( a1 a2 a10 a1a a2a a10a a01a a10b a1b2
+c a1b10c aa1 );

print sort mixed_sort @list;

{ # closure for caching, etc.

    my %seen;
    
    sub mixed_sort
    {
        return $seen{$a,$b} if exists( $seen{$a,$b} );

        $seen{$a,$b} = 0;
            
        my $re_num  = qr/\d+/;
        my $re_both = qr/^(\d+|\D+)+$/;

        # split into alpha and numeric fields
        my @x = $a =~ /$re_both/go;
        my @y = $b =~ /$re_both/go;
        
        my $longest = @x > @y ? @x-1 : @y-1;
        
        foreach my $i ( 0..$longest )
        {
            if ( defined( $x[$i] ) and defined( $y[$i] ) )
            {
                if ( ( $x[$i] =~ /^$re_num$/o ) 
                 and ( $y[$i] =~ /^$re_num$/o ) )
                {
                    $seen{$a,$b} = $x[$i] <=> $y[$i]; # both are numbe
+rs
                }
                else
                {
                    $seen{$a,$b} = $x[$i] cmp $y[$i];
                }
            }
            elsif ( defined( $x[$i] ) )
            {
                $seen{$a,$b} = +1;
            }
            elsif ( defined( $y[$i] ) )
            {
                $seen{$a,$b} = -1;
            }
            # else they're both undef, and nothing changes yet
            
            return $seen{$a,$b} if $seen{$a,$b};
        }
        
        return $seen{$a,$b} = $a cmp $b; # if all else fails
    } # end of sub mix_sort

} # end of closure for sub mixed_sort

__END__

[download]
Perhaps someone can add to it for generic distinctions (numbers are not just \d+), more than 2 categories, etc.

-QM
--
Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of

In reply to Re: perl sorting by QM
in thread perl sorting by Anonymous Monk

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