Sorting a vector of custom objects

Question

How does one go about sorting a vector containing custom (i.e. user defined) objects.
Probably, standard STL algorithm sort along with a predicate (a fu

Answer 1

You could use functor as third argument of std::sort, or you could define operator< in your class.

struct X {
    int x;
    bool operator<( const X& val ) const { 
        return x < val.x; 
    }
};

struct Xgreater
{
    bool operator()( const X& lx, const X& rx ) const {
        return lx.x < rx.x;
    }
};

int main () {
    std::vector<X> my_vec;

    // use X::operator< by default
    std::sort( my_vec.begin(), my_vec.end() );

    // use functor
    std::sort( my_vec.begin(), my_vec.end(), Xgreater() );
}

Answer 2

Yes, std::sort() with third parameter (function or object) would be easier. An example: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/algorithm/sort/

Answer 3

Below is the code using lambdas

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

struct MyStruct
{
    int key;
    std::string stringValue;

    MyStruct(int k, const std::string& s) : key(k), stringValue(s) {}
};

int main()
{
    std::vector < MyStruct > vec;

    vec.push_back(MyStruct(4, "test"));
    vec.push_back(MyStruct(3, "a"));
    vec.push_back(MyStruct(2, "is"));
    vec.push_back(MyStruct(1, "this"));

    std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), 
        [] (const MyStruct& struct1, const MyStruct& struct2)
        {
            return (struct1.key < struct2.key);
        }
    );
    return 0;
}

Answer 4

You are on the right track. std::sort will use operator< as comparison function by default. So in order to sort your objects, you will either have to overload bool operator<( const T&, const T& ) or provide a functor that does the comparison, much like this:

 struct C {
    int i;
    static bool before( const C& c1, const C& c2 ) { return c1.i < c2.i; }
 };

 bool operator<( const C& c1, const C& c2 ) { return c1.i > c2.i; }

 std::vector<C> values;

 std::sort( values.begin(), values.end() ); // uses operator<
 std::sort( values.begin(), values.end(), C::before );

The advantage of the usage of a functor is that you can use a function with access to the class' private members.

Answer 5

In the interest of coverage. I put forward an implementation using lambda expressions.

C++11

#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

vector< MyStruct > values;

sort( values.begin( ), values.end( ), [ ]( const MyStruct& lhs, const MyStruct& rhs )
{
   return lhs.key < rhs.key;
});

C++14

#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>

using namespace std;

vector< MyStruct > values;

sort( values.begin( ), values.end( ), [ ]( const auto& lhs, const auto& rhs )
{
   return lhs.key < rhs.key;
});

Answer 6

    // sort algorithm example
    #include <iostream>     // std::cout
    #include <algorithm>    // std::sort
    #include <vector>       // std::vector
    using namespace std;
    int main () {
        char myints[] = {'F','C','E','G','A','H','B','D'};
        vector<char> myvector (myints, myints+8);               // 32 71 12 45 26 80 53 33
        // using default comparison (operator <):
        sort (myvector.begin(), myvector.end());           //(12 32 45 71)26 80 53 33
        // print out content:
        cout << "myvector contains:";
        for (int i=0; i!=8; i++)
            cout << ' ' <<myvector[i];
        cout << '\n';
        system("PAUSE");
    return 0;
    }