Suppose I have
an_array = [[2, 3], [1, 4], [1, 3], [2, 1], [1, 2]]
I want to sort this array by the first value of each inner array, and then by the second (so the sorted array should look like this: [[1, 2], [1, 3], [1, 4], [2, 1], [2, 3]])
What's the most readable way to do this?
This is the default behavior for sorting arrays (see the Array#<=> method definition for proof). You should just be able to do:
an_array.sort
If you want some non-default behaviour, investigate sort_by (ruby 1.8.7+)
e.g. sort by the second element then by the first
a.sort_by {|e| [e[1], e[0]]} # => [[2, 1], [1, 2], [1, 3], [2, 3], [1, 4]]
or sort by the first element ascending and then the second element descending
a.sort_by {|e| [e[0], -e[1]]} # => [[1, 4], [1, 3], [1, 2], [2, 3], [2, 1]]
an_array.sort
