Sort::Key::Maker - multikey sorter creator # create a function that sorts strings by length: use Sort::Key::Maker sort_by_length => sub { length $_}, qw(integer); # create a multikey sort function; # first key is integer sorted in descending order, # second key is a string in default (ascending) order: use Sort::Key::Maker ri_s_keysort => qw(-integer string); # some sample data... my @foo = qw(foo bar t too tood mama); # and now, use the sorter functions previously made: # get the values on @foo sorted by length: my @sorted = sort_by_length @foo; # sort @foo inplace by its length and then by its value: ri_s_keysort_inplace { length $_, $_ } @foo; Sort::Key::Maker is a pragmatic module that provides an easy to use interface to Sort::Key multikey sorting functionality. It creates multikey sorting functions on the fly for any key type combination and exports them to the caller package. The key types natively accepted are: string, str, locale, loc, integer, int, unsigned_integer, uint, number, num and support for other types can be added via Sort::Key::Register (or also via Sort::Key::register_type()).

USAGE
exports two subroutines to the caller package: "foo_sort (&@)" and "foo_sort_inplace (&\@)". Those two subroutines require a sub reference as their first argument and then respectively, the list to be sorted or an array. For instance: use Sort::Key::Maker bar_sort => qw(int int str); @bar=qw(doo tomo 45s tio); @sorted = bar_sort { unpack "CCs", $_ } @bar; # or sorting @bar inplace bar_sort_inplace { unpack "CCs", $_ } @bar; when the first argument after the sorter name is a reference to a subroutine it is used as the multikey extraction function. The generated sorter functions doesn't require neither accept one, i.e.: use Sort::Key::Maker sort_by_length => sub { length $_ }, 'int'; my @sorted = sort_by_length qw(foo goo h mama picasso); Sort::Key, Sort::Key::Register. Sort::Maker also available from CPAN provides similar functionality. Salvador Fandin~o, <sfandino@yahoo.com> Copyright (C) 2005 by Salvador Fandin~o This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.4 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.