How do you sort an array of objects?

Question

I have an object as follows:

[{:id=>2, :fname=>"Ron", :lname=>"XXXXX", :photo=>"XXX"}, {:id=>3, :fname=>"Dain", :lname=>"XXXX", :photo=>"XXXXXXX"}, {:id=>1, :fname=>"Bob", :lname=>"XXXXXX", :photo=>"XXXX"}]

I want to sort this by fname, alphabetically case insensitive so it would result in

id: 1,3,2

How can I sort this? I'm trying:

@people.sort! { |x,y| y[:fname] <=> x[:fname] }

But that has no effect.

That is not a JSON object. That is a Ruby array of hashes.

Phrogz
– Phrogz

2012-02-16 23:08:04 +00:00
Commented Feb 16, 2012 at 23:08 — Phrogz
– Phrogz, Commented Feb 16, 2012 at 23:08

Gazler · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-16 22:58:29Z

13

You can use sort_by.

@people.sort_by! { |x| x[:fname].downcase }

(the downcase is for the case insensitivity)

For completeness, the issues with the provided code are:

the arguments are in the wrong order
downcase is not being called

The following code works using the sort method.

@people.sort! { |x,y| x[:fname].downcase <=> y[:fname].downcase }

As proof that both of these methods do the same thing:

@people.sort_by {|x| x[:fname].downcase} == @people.sort { |x,y| x[:fname].downcase <=> y[:fname].downcase }

Returns true.

edited Feb 16, 2012 at 22:58

answered Feb 16, 2012 at 22:48

Gazler

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