I have an application were I need sorting. My tests led me to
this variant that works as I expected (with GNU Awk 5.3.0)

asort (arr, res, "@val_num_desc")

But I originally intended an _inplace_ sort and I thought that
using these commands would also work

PROCINFO["sorted_in"] = "@val_num_desc"
asort (arr)

but the sorting order is (contrary to my specifier) ascending.
So it seems PROCINFO is not considered by the asort() function?
(Or is that just inappropriately used?)

Another question; is there a simple way for a _unique sorting_
like Unix'es 'sort -u'? - By simple I mean some setting, not a
programmed function like using associative array indexes, etc.

Janis

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On 2025-02-11, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

I have an application were I need sorting. My tests led me to
this variant that works as I expected (with GNU Awk 5.3.0)

asort (arr, res, "@val_num_desc")

But I originally intended an _inplace_ sort and I thought that
using these commands would also work

PROCINFO["sorted_in"] = "@val_num_desc"
asort (arr)

but the sorting order is (contrary to my specifier) ascending.
So it seems PROCINFO is not considered by the asort() function?
(Or is that just inappropriately used?)

No it isn't. All I see in the documentation is:

- PROCINFO["sorted_in"] controls the "for" traversal of arrays;
i.e. for (var in array) and that's it.

- The same values that maybe used with PROCINFO["sorted_in"]
maybe explicitly passed as an argument to asort/asorti
to bring about the same sort order.

Another question; is there a simple way for a _unique sorting_
like Unix'es 'sort -u'? - By simple I mean some setting, not a
programmed function like using associative array indexes, etc.

I don't think so, but if we consider that the indices of
an associative array must be unique, then it may be workable
to store the data as indices to "uniquefy" it, and use asorti
to sort indices rather than values.

asorti inverts the array, sort of. The values of the array
are lost. The sorted indices become the values of the target
array, whose indices are the natural numbers (integers from 1).

--
TXR Programming Language: http://nongnu.org/txr
Cygnal: Cygwin Native Application Library: http://kylheku.com/cygnal
Mastodon: @Kazinator@mstdn.ca

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On 11.02.2025 03:47, Kaz Kylheku wrote:

On 2025-02-11, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:

[...]

Another question; is there a simple way for a _unique sorting_
like Unix'es 'sort -u'? - By simple I mean some setting, not a
programmed function like using associative array indexes, etc.

I don't think so, but if we consider that the indices of
an associative array must be unique, then it may be workable
to store the data as indices to "uniquefy" it, and use asorti
to sort indices rather than values.

I've had a separate 'uniq' function implemented based on
associative arrays; some temporary arrays were involved
and overall it looked quite clumsy. I've now rewritten it
using asorti() as you suggested, omitting the asort() and
my 'uniq' function. The test code first looked like this

PROCINFO["sorted_in"] = "@val_num_desc"
data = "6 9 11 9 22 3 6 2"
n = split (data, arr)
for (i in arr)
pos[arr[i]]
asorti (pos)
for (i in pos)
printf " %d", pos[i]
printf "\n"

(My original data resides in a string, so it's a two-step
process; split into an indexed array, and then populate
the associative array.) That already works and fortunately
nothing is "lost" (as you formulate below). - So thanks
for the asorti hint.

But upon reconsideration I could also just omit the sorting
since I don't need the array object, I just need to iterate
in the correct order. I now have

data = "6 9 11 9 22 3 6 2"
n = split (data, arr)
for (i in arr)
pos[arr[i]]
PROCINFO["sorted_in"] = "@ind_num_desc"
for (i in pos)
printf " %d", i
printf "\n"

That works fine as well; and your asorti hint led me to the
second, even simpler variant to just use "@ind_num_desc",
i.e. defining iteration order on the _indices_.

Thanks again.

asorti inverts the array, sort of. The values of the array
are lost. The sorted indices become the values of the target
array, whose indices are the natural numbers (integers from 1).

Janis

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