sorting a vector of structs

C++SortingVector

C++ Problem Overview


I have a vector<data> info where data is defined as:

struct data{
    string word;
    int number;
};

I need to sort info by the length of the word strings. Is there a quick and simple way to do it?

C++ Solutions


Solution 1 - C++

Use a comparison function:

bool compareByLength(const data &a, const data &b)
{
    return a.word.size() < b.word.size();
}

and then use std::sort in the header #include <algorithm>:

std::sort(info.begin(), info.end(), compareByLength);

Solution 2 - C++

Just make a comparison function/functor:

bool my_cmp(const data& a, const data& b)
{
    // smallest comes first
    return a.word.size() < b.word.size();
}

std::sort(info.begin(), info.end(), my_cmp);

Or provide an bool operator<(const data& a) const in your data class:

struct data {
    string word;
    int number;

    bool operator<(const data& a) const
    {
        return word.size() < a.word.size();
    }
};

or non-member as Fred said:

struct data {
    string word;
    int number;
};

bool operator<(const data& a, const data& b)
{
    return a.word.size() < b.word.size();
}

and just call std::sort():

std::sort(info.begin(), info.end());

Solution 3 - C++

Yes: you can sort using a custom comparison function:

std::sort(info.begin(), info.end(), my_custom_comparison);

my_custom_comparison needs to be a function or a class with an operator() overload (a functor) that takes two data objects and returns a bool indicating whether the first is ordered prior to the second (i.e., first < second). Alternatively, you can overload operator< for your class type data; operator< is the default ordering used by std::sort.

Either way, the comparison function must yield a strict weak ordering of the elements.

Solution 4 - C++

As others have mentioned, you could use a comparison function, but you can also overload the < operator and the default less<T> functor will work as well:

struct data {
    string word;
    int number;
    bool operator < (const data& rhs) const {
        return word.size() < rhs.word.size();
    }
};

Then it's just:

std::sort(info.begin(), info.end());

Edit

As James McNellis pointed out, sort does not actually use the less<T> functor by default. However, the rest of the statement that the less<T> functor will work as well is still correct, which means that if you wanted to put struct datas into a std::map or std::set this would still work, but the other answers which provide a comparison function would need additional code to work with either.

Attributions

All content for this solution is sourced from the original question on Stackoverflow.

The content on this page is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestioncalccryptoView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - C++Oliver CharlesworthView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - C++Murilo VasconcelosView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - C++James McNellisView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - C++user470379View Answer on Stackoverflow