Re^2: Unique numeric ID for reference?

Yes, of course. Forcing the ref to numeric does it, and that is my answer. Embarrassingly easy.

"But why not store the reference itself?" Not sure what you mean here. For my Guttman-Rosler-Schwartz sort I'm creating a sort key with pack. Given the number you just showed me how to get, I stuff it into a "J" field. How would I "store the reference itself"? And why do I want to? Since the packed keys in a GRS Transform are thrown away once the sort is done, I've no real use for an actual reference -- all I need is a unique numeric cookie. I don't need to dereference from the sort key.

Or do I miss your point?

jeffrey kegler

Comment on Re^2: Unique numeric ID for reference?

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Re^3: Unique numeric ID for reference? by Juerd (Abbot) on Oct 07, 2007 at 14:04 UTC
Then i wonder why you are sorting by reference address. Is that ever useful? It's kind of randomish.	[reply]
Re^4: Unique numeric ID for reference? by Jeffrey Kegler (Hermit) on Oct 07, 2007 at 15:35 UTC
Sorting with numeric references as a key will gather records with the same reference together. This might be done, for example, to weed out duplicates. Other than that, yes, you're right, the ordering between non-identical references is pseudo-random and not very useful. jeffrey	[reply]