Using Perl, how can I sort an array using the value of a number inside each array element?

Question

Let\'s say I have an array, @theArr, which holds 1,000 or so elements such as the following:

01  \'12 16 sj.1012804p1012831.93.gz\'
02  \'12 16 sj.1012832p10         


        

Answer 1

Yes. The sort function takes an optional comparison function which will be used to compare two elements. It can take the form of either a block of code, or the name of a function to call.

There is an example at the linked document that is similar to what you want to do:

# inefficiently sort by descending numeric compare using
# the first integer after the first = sign, or the
# whole record case-insensitively otherwise

@new = sort {
($b =~ /=(\d+)/)[0] <=> ($a =~ /=(\d+)/)[0]
            ||
            uc($a)  cmp  uc($b)
} @old;