Sorting an array of hashes

JohnMed has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have the below array of hashes which I'm creating using the File::Find method.

I would like to order the array by the key value file name so when I print the array out using the HTML Template method they are in a listed in a alphabetical order.

I've attempted various sort methods with interesting results.

Please can anyone help. I'm a newbie to perl so if i've made a school boy error forgive me.

 
$VAR1 = [
          {
            'file_name' => 'uk_campaign1_2005_06',
            'details' => [
                           {
                             'value' => 'Harry Potter',
                             'name' => 'Owner'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '24-11-2005',
                             'name' => 'Last Update'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '13-12-2005',
                             'name' => 'End date'
                           }
                         ],
            'file_dir' => 'Client01/uk_campaign1_2005_06'
          },

          {
            'file_name' => 'uk_campaign2_2005_08',
            'details' => [
                           {
                             'value' => 'James Potter',
                             'name' => 'Owner'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '25-11-2005',
                             'name' => 'Last Update'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '13-01-2006',
                             'name' => 'End date'
                           }
                         ],
            'file_dir' => 'Client01/uk_campaign2_2005_08'
          },
          {
            'file_name' => 'uk_campaign1_2005_05',
            'file_dir' => '/Client01/uk_campaign1_2005_05'
          },
          {
            'file_name' => 'no_campaign1_2005_06',
            'details' => [
                           {
                             'value' => 'Dobby',
                             'name' => 'Owner'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '24-11-2005',
                             'name' => 'Last Update'
                           },
                           {
                             'value' => '13-12-2005',
                             'name' => 'End date'
                           }
                         ],
            'file_dir' => 'Client01/no_campaign1_2005_06'
          }

        ];
[download]

Comment on Sorting an array of hashes Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Sorting an array of hashes by friedo (Prior) on Dec 14, 2005 at 12:16 UTC
You can use a custom `sort` block to do it. The block gets called for every sort iteration with the special variables `$a` and `$b` set to two of the items. In this case, they will be references to the various hashes in your array. You can then use the `cmp` operator to compare the `file_name` key alphabetically. `my @sorted = sort { $a->{file_name} cmp $b->{file_name} } @files;` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]