Sort an Array according to columns.
Syntax
Parameters
subject - The Array to sort. This Array should contain sub-Arrays as rows, each of which should contain the columns named for sorting.options - The sort options. This parameter should consist of an Array of options, where each option is itself an Array containing the option details. The order of the options dictates the sort order.option - Each sort option should be an Array containing numerically-indexed option details.0: Mixed column - The name of the column to sort by, where the name is a valid Array key (i.e. a String or an Integer).false (default) - subject will be sorted from lowest to highest.true - subject will be sorted from highest to lowest.0 (default) - Compare items using standard comparison.1 - Compare items numerically.2 - Compare items as case-sensitive strings.3 - Compare items as case-insensitive strings.4 - Compare items as case-sensitive strings, using natural ordering.5 - Compare items as case-insensitive strings, using natural ordering.6 - Compare items as case-sensitive strings, according to locale.7 - Compare items as case-insensitive strings, according to locale.preserve - Whether to preserve item keys.false (default) - Keys will be re-assigned.true - Keys will be preserved.
Result
Returns subject sorted in order, by column, according to various options.
Key value, type, and order do not matter - the Array does not have to be numerically indexed.
The sortmulti() function uses "safe" sorting, that is, two identical items will retain their original order.
For more information about comparison methods, see the compare() function.
To demonstrate how to use the sortmulti() function, let's first set up an Array with some example data:
{ Users = [ ["Name": "Joe", "Admin": false], ["Name": "Bill", "Admin": true], ["Name": "Jim", "Admin": false], ["Name": "Adam", "Admin": false], ["Name": "Zak", "Admin": false], ["Name": "Greg", "Admin": true] ] }…
Now let's create some code to display the contents of the Array:
{ macro Display(Users) }… { loop Users as User }… { User.Name } { endloop }… { endmacro }…
Now we can display the users by running the macro:
{ Display(Users) }
Joe Bill Jim Adam Zak Greg
Let's sort the users by name first:
{ SortedUsers = sortmulti(Users, [["Name"]]) }… { Display(SortedUsers) }
Adam Bill Greg Jim Joe Zak
And now let's sort them so that the admin users are listed first:
{ SortedUsers = sortmulti(Users, [["Admin", true]]) }… { Display(SortedUsers) }
Greg Bill Zak Adam Jim Joe
Notice that because true is greater than false, we had to sort in reverse.
Now let's combine both sorts by sorting by Admin and then by Name:
{ SortedUsers = sortmulti(Users, [["Admin", true], ["Name"]]) }… { Display(SortedUsers) }
Bill Greg Adam Jim Joe Zak
Hopefully that shows how simple, yet powerful, the sortmulti() function is.