Generalized Sort
Challenge
We all know and love the generic sort function, right? However, it only sorts based off one criterion - what if we want more? That's where you come in.
Your task is to sort an array based off an arbitrary number of comparison functions c1, c2, c3, etc.; first sort by comparing using c1, if there is a tie then sort by c2, if there is still a tie sort by c3, etc. If there are a set of items that are still tied after all comparisons are made, the order of them with respect to each other can be implemented however you like (including an unstable sort). However, their order with respect to others must be correct. For instance, say we are sorting only using the x property of a list of objects, and we are given an input of
[ { x: 1, y: 2 },
{ x: 2, y: 1 },
{ x: 1, y: 1 } ]
You may output either of
[ { x: 1, y: 2 },
{ x: 1, y: 1 },
{ x: 2, y: 1 } ]
or
[ { x: 1, y: 1 },
{ x: 1, y: 2 },
{ x: 2, y: 1 } ]
Input
You may take input in any format that makes sense, e.g. as an array of functions in either precedence order and the array to sort.
Example
Here is an example in JavaScript:
function sort(array, ...comparators) {
return array.sort((a, b) =>
comparators.map(c => c(a, b)) // Apply comparisons
.find(r => r != 0) // Find the first non-zero comparison
);
}
Test Cases
Here is a test case, sorting first by last name then by first name.[1]
Christina Johnson
Steward Johnson
Steward White
Steward O'Brian
Steward Smith
Bill Smith
John Johnson
James Smith
Sally Johnson
Christina Meyers
Chris Meyers
Steward Meyers
Bill O'Brian
Zachary Smith
Chris Brown
Zachary O'Brian
Abbey Smith
Zachary Meyers
John Brown
Sally Smith
Zachary Johnson
Chris White
=>
Chris Brown
John Brown
Christina Johnson
John Johnson
Sally Johnson
Steward Johnson
Zachary Johnson
Chris Meyers
Christina Meyers
Steward Meyers
Zachary Meyers
Bill O'Brian
Steward O'Brian
Zachary O'Brian
Abbey Smith
Bill Smith
James Smith
Sally Smith
Steward Smith
Zachary Smith
Chris White
Steward White
Here is another test case sorting first by the x property, then the y property, then the z property:
Comparators:
c1 = (a, b) => a.x - b.x
c2 = (a, b) => a.y - b.y
c3 = (a, b) => a.z - b.z
Input:
[ { x: 1, y: 2, z: 2 },
{ x: 3, y: 2, z: 3 },
{ x: 2, y: 2, z: 3 },
{ x: 1, y: 1, z: 3 },
{ x: 2, y: 2, z: 1 },
{ x: 1, y: 2, z: 1 },
{ x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 } ]
Output:
[ { x: 1, y: 1, z: 3 },
{ x: 1, y: 2, z: 1 },
{ x: 1, y: 2, z: 2 },
{ x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 },
{ x: 2, y: 2, z: 1 },
{ x: 2, y: 2, z: 3 },
{ x: 3, y: 2, z: 3 } ]
This is code-golf, so the entry with the lowest bytes wins!
-
Incidentally, I generated this data with a short script ↩︎
Scala, 64 bytes ```scala c=> …
3y ago
Japt `-h`, 5 bytes Takes th …
3y ago
JavaScript, 25 bytes Argume …
3y ago
[Haskell], 29 bytes …
3y ago
[JavaScript (Node.js)], 52 byt …
3y ago
Ruby, 25 bytes Credits goes …
3y ago
6 answers
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JavaScript (Node.js), 52 bytes
(A,...c)=>A.sort((a,b)=>c.map(z=>z(a,b)).find(x=>x))
A golf of the reference code.
If we can assume there will be no ties, 47 is possible in a rather neat way.
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Scala, 64 bytes
c=>_.sortBy(x=>c.map(_(x)))(math.Ordering.Implicits.seqOrdering)
A rather crude answer, but I'll come back later to golf it. It's rather simple, though - it simply sorts by the result of applying every comparator function to each of the elements.
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JavaScript, 25 bytes
Arguments are curried, i.e. f(a)(s), where a is the array to be sorted and s is an array of functions to sort by, in reverse order. Modifies a in place, which I don't know that we have a consensus on here yet - if it's not permitted then add &&a to the end to return the sorted array.
a=>s=>s.map(g=>a.sort(g))
Japt -h, 5 bytes
Takes the array to be sorted as input and assigns the array of functions, in reverse order, to variable V.
V£=ñX
I could save a byte by replacing =ñ with just n and tweaking the functions but doing it this way allows me to do something Japt isn't be able to do: work with objects! Each object is limited to maximum of 6 entries, though, and the keys must be one of E or P-T.
If that's not an acceptable way to take input of multiple black-box functions then:
Japt -h, 7 bytes
Taking an array of the string representations of the functions as the second input.
V£=ñOvX
Try the names test case
Try the objects test case
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