Hello, Perl Monks,

I think I have a fairly easy problem, but I'm having problems approaching it. I've completed the portion of code to read in files and parse out the exact data I need, but now I'm having a problem figuring out to convolute my dates.

Essentially I have two arrays, each of which holds a list of another array that has three values. Here is a super simple example of what I am trying to describe: 
@listone = ([010000,010010,2],[010200,010210,5],[012359,020001,3]);
@listtwo = ([010005,010015,1],[010207,010211,4]);

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The format for the inside array is DDTTTT,DDTTTT,V where DD is a two digit date, TTTT is a 24 hour time value, and V is some decimal value.

I need to combine these arrays into a single list, organized by time that does two special things: ***in overlapping dates/times the lower value is chosen which forces some of the items to be split, and also needs to break the value into two for a change in days.***

The solution to the above example would be an array consisting of the following arrays: 
[010000,010004,2]
[010005,010015,1]
[010200,010206,5]
[010207,010211,4]
[012359,012359,3]
[020000,020001,3]

[download]
The solution to the above is easy and straight-forward to do by hand, but this will have to be done for hundreds+ daily, and perl is perfect for it!

***EDIT***

What I'm looking at now is: 
@combined = sort {$a->[0] <=> $b->[0]} (@listone,@listtwo);
foreach (@combined) {
     #check for overlapping times and make sure the smallest V time is
+ listed during the overlap piece
     #XXXXXXX

     #break the timespans apart if it covers the crossing of a new day
     #XXXXXXX

}

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**********

I'm not looking for a solution per say, but I really need some help with how to approach the problem. I wouldn't say no to a solution though :) Like I said, I've done the ~30 lines of code to get the data to the point where the fun begins, but that's where I'm having problems

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks!

In reply to Date Array Convolution by alanonymous

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