sort string containing numbers in ruby/rails

Question

I want to sort all my locations depending on how many facebook likes they have. But facebook_likes is not an integer, it is a string.

This is the rails code I use: @locations = Location.order("facebook_likes ASC").all

Right now I get something like this:

10
100
201
2
304
400000
50
...

How can I sort depending on the value, so that the location with the most checkins is on the top. Is this solution with using strings instead of integers flawed form the beginning?

thx for your help!

rubyprince · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-08 10:18:49Z

9

@locations = Location.all.sort { |a, b| b.facebook_likes.to_i <=> a.facebook_likes.to_i }

or

@locations = Location.all.sort_by { |a| -(a.facebook_likes.to_i) }

answered Jun 8, 2011 at 10:18

rubyprince

17.9k12 gold badges69 silver badges107 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Lukas Hoffmann Over a year ago

thx! But what do you think, should I change the database model to integer? I chose string because I am worried about saving numbers with are too big for integer.

rubyprince Over a year ago

@lukas...I think your data model is correct if you anticipate more than 10 digits as facebook_likes..otherwise integer is the way to go..but I think ordering by facebook_likes in the database level itself should give you the correct ordering..are you sure the ordering is not correct in case of your code?

rubyprince Over a year ago

also try the sql command(in your database terminal) select * from locations order by facebook_likes asc and analyse the result.

rubyprince Over a year ago

@lukas..you mean in your code itself, the ordering is correct?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

sort string containing numbers in ruby/rails

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related