C++, Sort One Vector Based On Another One

Question

The best example I\'ve got is that I want to sort Names based on their Score.

vector  Names {\"Karl\", \"Martin\", \"Paul\", \"Jennie\"};
vecto         


        

Answer 1

As already suggested in other answers: Combining the name and the score of each individual is likely the simplest solution.

Generically, this can be achieved with what is sometimes referred to as a "zip" operation: Combining two vectors into a vector of pairs - along with a corresponding "unzip".

Implemented generically, this may look as follows:

#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>

// Fill the zipped vector with pairs consisting of the
// corresponding elements of a and b. (This assumes 
// that the vectors have equal length)
template <typename A, typename B>
void zip(
    const std::vector<A> &a, 
    const std::vector<B> &b, 
    std::vector<std::pair<A,B>> &zipped)
{
    for(size_t i=0; i<a.size(); ++i)
    {
        zipped.push_back(std::make_pair(a[i], b[i]));
    }
}

// Write the first and second element of the pairs in 
// the given zipped vector into a and b. (This assumes 
// that the vectors have equal length)
template <typename A, typename B>
void unzip(
    const std::vector<std::pair<A, B>> &zipped, 
    std::vector<A> &a, 
    std::vector<B> &b)
{
    for(size_t i=0; i<a.size(); i++)
    {
        a[i] = zipped[i].first;
        b[i] = zipped[i].second;
    }
}


int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    std::vector<std::string> names {"Karl", "Martin", "Paul", "Jennie"};
    std::vector<int> score {45, 5, 14, 24};

    // Zip the vectors together
    std::vector<std::pair<std::string,int>> zipped;
    zip(names, score, zipped);

    // Sort the vector of pairs
    std::sort(std::begin(zipped), std::end(zipped), 
        [&](const auto& a, const auto& b)
        {
            return a.second > b.second;
        });

    // Write the sorted pairs back to the original vectors
    unzip(zipped, names, score);

    for(size_t i=0; i<names.size(); i++)
    {
        std::cout << names[i] << " : " << score[i] << std::endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

Answer 2

Best way to do this would be to have a struct which combines the names with their scores and have one vector.

struct Person
{
    std::string Name;
    int Score;
};

Then you can declare your vector:

std::vector<Person> people{ { "Karl", 45 }, { "Martin", 5 }, { "Paul", 14 } };

And sorting it is easy with std::sort from <algorithm>:

std::sort(people.begin(), people.end(), 
               [](const auto& i, const auto& j) { return i.Score < j.Score; } );

Or you can change the lambda if you want to sort in descending order:

std::sort(people.begin(), people.end(), 
               [](const auto& i, const auto& j) { return i.Score > j.Score; } );

Answer 3

One way you could do this would be to store the Names and Scores in a single data structure such as a std::vector<std::pair<std::string,int>> and then sorting can be done as follows:

#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <utility>
//...
std::vector<std::pair<std::string, int>> names_scores_vec;
// ... populate names_scores_vec...
// lambda for sorting, change to > for descending order
auto sort_by_scores = [](const std::pair<string,int>& _lhs, 
    const std::pair<string,int>& _rhs) { return _lhs.second < _rhs.second; };
std::sort(names_scores_vec.begin(), names_scores_vec.end(), sort_by_scores);

Alternatively, use storage such as a std::map or std::multimap if you want repeated keys (i.e. repeated names allowed).

Answer 4

So many asked this question and nobody came up with a satisfactory answer. Here is a std::sort helper that enables to sort two vectors simultaneously, taking into account the values of only one vector. This solution is based on a custom RadomIt (random iterator), and operates directly on the original vector data, without temporary copies, structure rearrangement or additional indices:

namespace std {

namespace sort_helper {

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
struct value_reference_t;

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
struct value_t {
    _Data data;
    _Order val;
    inline value_t(_Data _data, _Order _val) : data(_data), val(_val) {}
    inline value_t(const value_reference_t<_Data,_Order>& rhs);
};

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
struct value_reference_t {
    _Data* pdata;
    _Order* pval;
    value_reference_t(_Data* _itData, _Order* _itVal) : pdata(_itData), pval(_itVal) {}
    inline value_reference_t& operator = (const value_reference_t& rhs) { *pdata = *rhs.pdata; *pval = *rhs.pval; return *this; }
    inline value_reference_t& operator = (const value_t<_Data,_Order>& rhs) { *pdata = rhs.data; *pval = rhs.val; return *this; }
    inline bool operator < (const value_reference_t& rhs) { return *pval < *rhs.pval; }
};

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
struct value_iterator_t :
    iterator< random_access_iterator_tag, value_t<_Data,_Order>, ptrdiff_t, value_t<_Data,_Order>*, value_reference_t<_Data,_Order> >
{
    _Data* itData;
    _Order* itVal;
    value_iterator_t(_Data* _itData, _Order* _itVal) : itData(_itData), itVal(_itVal) {}
    inline ptrdiff_t operator - (const value_iterator_t& rhs) const { return itVal - rhs.itVal; }
    inline value_iterator_t operator + (ptrdiff_t off) const { return value_iterator_t(itData + off, itVal + off); }
    inline value_iterator_t operator - (ptrdiff_t off) const { return value_iterator_t(itData - off, itVal - off); }
    inline value_iterator_t& operator ++ () { ++itData; ++itVal; return *this; }
    inline value_iterator_t& operator -- () { --itData; --itVal; return *this; }
    inline value_iterator_t operator ++ (int) { return value_iterator_t(itData++, itVal++); }
    inline value_iterator_t operator -- (int) { return value_iterator_t(itData--, itVal--); }
    inline value_t<_Data,_Order> operator * () const { return value_t<_Data,_Order>(*itData, *itVal); }
    inline value_reference_t<_Data,_Order> operator * () { return value_reference_t<_Data,_Order>(itData, itVal); }
    inline bool operator  < (const value_iterator_t& rhs) const { return itVal  < rhs.itVal; }
    inline bool operator == (const value_iterator_t& rhs) const { return itVal == rhs.itVal; }
    inline bool operator != (const value_iterator_t& rhs) const { return itVal != rhs.itVal; }
};

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
inline value_t<_Data,_Order>::value_t(const value_reference_t<_Data,_Order>& rhs)
    : data(*rhs.pdata), val(*rhs.pval) {}

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
bool operator < (const value_t<_Data,_Order>& lhs, const value_reference_t<_Data,_Order>& rhs) {
    return lhs.val < *rhs.pval; }

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
bool operator < (const value_reference_t<_Data,_Order>& lhs, const value_t<_Data,_Order>& rhs) {
    return *lhs.pval < rhs.val; }

template <typename _Data, typename _Order>
void swap(value_reference_t<_Data,_Order> lhs, value_reference_t<_Data,_Order> rhs) {
    std::swap(*lhs.pdata, *rhs.pdata);
    std::swap(*lhs.pval, *rhs.pval); }


} // namespace sort_helper

} // namespace std

And this is an usage example that sorts both Names and Age based on Age values, employing standard std::sort:

char* Names[] = { "Karl", "Paul", "Martin", "Jennie" };
int Age[] = { 45, 14, 5, 24 };
typedef std::sort_helper::value_iterator_t<char*,int> IndexIt;
std::sort(IndexIt(Names, Age), IndexIt(Names+4, Age+4));

sorted to:

{ "Martin", "Paul", "Jennie", "Karl" };
{ 5, 14, 24, 45 };

Code tested on Visual Studio 2017 and GCC 5.4.0.

Answer 5

An alternative to consolidating the names and scores into a single structure is to create an index list and sort that:

 std::vector<int> indices(Names.size());
 std::iota(indices.begin(), indices.end(), 0);
 std::sort(indices.begin(), indices.end(),
           [&](int A, int B) -> bool {
                return Score[A] < Score[B];
            });

Now indices can be used to index Names and Scores in the desired sorted order.

Answer 6

If you cannot merge the data into a vector of pairs or struct with both, you could create a vector of iterators, or the indexes from 0 to size-1. Then sort this using a custom comparator. Finally, create a new vector, populating it using the iterators or indexes.

template<class T1, class A1, class T2, class A2>
std::vector<T1, A1> sort_by(
  std::vector<T1,A1> const& vin, std::vector<T2,A2> const& keys
){
  std::vector<std::size_t> is;
  is.reserve(vin.size());
  for (auto&& unused:keys)
    is.push_back(is.size());
  std::sort(begin(is),end(is),[&](std::size_t l, std::size_t r){
    return keys[l]<keys[r];
  });
  std::vector<T1, A1> r;
  r.reserve(vin.size());
  for(std::size_t i:is)
    r.push_back(vin[i]);
  return r;
}