sort array by names

I can sort numeric data,but dont understand how to sort string data. help please.
Phil

It's the same idea, except you need a routine that can determine which of two strings is closer to the start of the alphabet than the other.

Such a routine need not be very complicated: just compare corresponding characters, starting with the first character in each string. If they're different, return a value indicating which one was lesser. If they're the same, keep scanning through the string until you find a pair of characters that are different. Things only get complicated if you want to worry about spaces and so on.

There's also a function which does this for you, by the way, so you don't have to do it yourself. It's strcmp(), in string.h.

Yeah just use strcmp and its pretty much the same as sorting numeric data.
Something like this should work:
for(count2=0;count2<MAX_ARRAY;count2++)
{
for(count=0;count<MAX_ARRAY;count++)
{
if(strcmp(string,string2)>0)
{
strcpy(temp,string);
strcpy(string,string2);
strcpy(string2,temp);
}
}
}
I think it'll work, but I haven't tested it so no guarantees. Hope this helps.

There are many ways of arranging arrays.
1) you can compare the elements of the arrays one to another
without converting them into string. I think this is much better to be done if the aim is just to arrange integers.
2) itoa() is a nice function to use if we want the elements to be
arranged using string comparing algorithm.

if you want to sort and are too lazy to write a sort function you can try the qsort function defined in stdlib.h


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

struct cust
{
char *name;
int id;
} custs[]=
{
{"ellery queen",1424},
{"sherlock homes",1234},
{"hercule poirot",3341}
};

int comp1(const void *s1,const void *s2)
{
return strcmp(((struct cust *)s1)->name,((struct cust *)s2)->name);
}

int comp2(const void *s1,const void *s2)
{
return ((struct cust *)s1)->id-((struct cust *)s2)->id;
}

void write(const struct cust *s,int n)
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<n;i++)
printf("name:%s\tid:%d\n",s[i].name,s[i].id);
}
int main(void)
{
printf("Original order\n");
write(custs,sizeof(custs)/sizeof(*custs));
printf("sorted by name\n");
qsort(custs,sizeof(custs)/sizeof(*custs),sizeof(*custs),comp1);
write(custs,sizeof(custs)/sizeof(*custs));
printf("sorted by id\n");
qsort(custs,sizeof(custs)/sizeof(*custs),sizeof(*custs),comp2);
write(custs,sizeof(custs)/sizeof(*custs));
return 0;
}