#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Dump qw(pp);

# the data is not strictly time sequential
# I would as a first step, gather the data into records
# based upon the team name and location
# The easiest way with a HoA, Hash of Array.
# although an extra dimension to the hash could be used
# for the location.

# %team_city_data is a HoA (Hash of Array)
#

my %team_city_data;
while (<DATA>)
{
   next if (/^\s*$/);  #skip blank lines
   chomp;
   my ($team_name, $location) = (split /,/,$_)[1,4];
   push @{$team_city_data{"$team_name-$location"}}, $_;
}

print "BEFORE the sort\n";
print pp(\%team_city_data),"\n";

# The time format of field[3] can be sorted by a
# simple alpha sort because of the leading zero's.
# This is an important thing when designing easily 
# parsable and sortable date/time formats

# This will eventually give the earliest time and last
# time for each team_location combination.
# These times are extracted later as the first and last
# of the sorted array's.

foreach my $name_location (keys %team_city_data)
{
   @{$team_city_data{$name_location}} = 
     sort{  my ($Date_timeA) = (split(/,/, $a))[3];
            my ($Date_timeB) = (split(/,/, $b))[3];
               $Date_timeA cmp $Date_timeB
         }@{$team_city_data{$name_location}};
}

print "AFTER the sort\n";
print pp(\%team_city_data),"\n"; 

# Instead of just printing the first and last dates
# use some module to calculate the time difference
# or use one of the built-in time functions.

# The "tricky part" is how to get this far.
# I leave the rest to you.

foreach my $name_location (keys %team_city_data)
{
  print "first: $team_city_data{$name_location}[0]\n";
  print "last : $team_city_data{$name_location}[-1]\n";
  print "\n";
}

=prints....as final output (run yourself to see BEFORE and AFTER)
first: 4,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:36:26.000,2011-11-21 10:45:11.823,Los Ange
+les,,,
last : 5,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:36:26.000,2011-11-21 12:41:17.763,Los Ange
+les,,,

first: 6,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:41:12.000,2011-11-21 10:55:08.393,San Fran
+cisco,,,
last : 8,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:41:12.000,2011-11-22 11:09:13.907,San Fran
+cisco,,,

first: 3,BEAR,2011-11-21 08:49:16.000,2011-11-21 08:49:19.987,San Fran
+cisco,,,
last : 2,BEAR,2011-11-21 08:49:16.000,2011-11-21 12:50:31.550,San Fran
+cisco,,,
=cut

__DATA__
1,BEAR,2011-11-21 08:49:16.000,2011-11-21 08:53:13.910,San Francisco,,
+,
2,BEAR,2011-11-21 08:49:16.000,2011-11-21 12:50:31.550,San Francisco,,
+,
3,BEAR,2011-11-21 08:49:16.000,2011-11-21 08:49:19.987,San Francisco,,
+,
4,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:36:26.000,2011-11-21 10:45:11.823,Los Angeles,,,
5,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:36:26.000,2011-11-21 12:41:17.763,Los Angeles,,,
6,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:41:12.000,2011-11-21 10:55:08.393,San Francisco,,
+,
7,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:41:12.000,2011-11-21 15:46:24.707,San Francisco,,
+,
8,HAWK,2011-11-21 10:41:12.000,2011-11-22 11:09:13.907,San Francisco,,
+,
[download]

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