Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!isi.edu!venera.isi.edu!jas
From: jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Sortin based on part of an associative array?
Message-ID: <17524@venera.isi.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 91 23:48:34 GMT
Sender: news@isi.edu
Distribution: comp
Organization: USC-ISI
Lines: 38


I have an situation where I'm storing a "structure" of information
about various files in a SPLITtable string using an associative array.
For example:

$Images{"TEST.IMG"} = "120#55#4#GIF"

which might mean that the file TEST.IMG is 120x55 pixels, 4 bitplanes
deep, and is a GIF format file.

What I want to do is write a sort routine that lets me sort the
%Images elements by image length or width.  Here's what I have:

sub bylen {

local ($alen, $awid, $adep, $afmt, $blen, $bwid, $bdep, $bfmt);

	($alen, $awid, $adep, $afmt) = split('#', $Images{$a});
	($blen, $bwid, $bdep, $bfmt) = split('#', $Images{$b});

	$alen cmp $blen;

}


However, when I try to do this (on MS-PERL PL 18), I get a syntax
error at the line containing "$alen cmp $blen;"

Why?

Can't I do this?  Is there a better way?

jas
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey A. Sullivan		| Senior Systems Programmer
jas@venera.isi.edu		| Information Sciences Institute
jas@isi.edu                    	| University of Southern California