array problems

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

I've got this huge array of name and time vairables

$array[0]=name<br>
$array[1]=time<br>
$array[2]=name<br>
$array[3]=time<br>
[download]

etc...

I've got to go through and check for multiple occurances of the name, and if there is one - add the times together. I haven't been able to find an efficient way of doing this that will give me legible output. I've spent way too much time on this project... So questions are as follows:
1. Is there a way to do this efficiently?
2. Is there a way to compare two arrays to each other in this manner?
3. Would I be further off using a hash?

Anyone who has any ideas please send them on to me. I'm pretty new to Perl and am ready to beat my head on the wall over this thing...

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Re: array problems by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Aug 14, 2002 at 16:46 UTC
`my %data; while (@array) { my ($name, $time) = splice @array => 0, 2; $data {$name} += $time; }` [download] This should answer points 1 and 3. As for 2, I do not know what you want to compare. Abigail	[reply] [d/l]
Re: array problems by thelenm (Vicar) on Aug 14, 2002 at 16:49 UTC
You can create a hash with the total time for each name by doing something like this: `for (my $i=0; $i<@array; $i+=2) { my ($name, $time) = @array[$i,$i+1]; $hash{$name} += $time; }` [download] -- Mike `-- just,my${.02}`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: array problems by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Aug 14, 2002 at 17:00 UTC
Build a hash keyed on the names, and add the times `my %hash; my ($name,$time); while (@array) { $time = pop @array; $name = pop @array; $hash{$name} += $time; }` [download] The `while (@array)` condition remains true as long as @array is not empty. I use pop so that @array doesn't move. You may need to adapt if your time elements are formatted to exclude simple arithmetic. After Compline, Zaxo	[reply] [d/l]
Re: array problems by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Aug 14, 2002 at 21:33 UTC
`my %time_for; { my ($name,$time); $time_for{$name} += $time while ($name,$time) = splice @array, 0, +2; }` [download] `____________` Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply] [d/l]