sorting a double linked list

Hello,

I've attempted to sort a double linked list, alphabetically by its member 'name' which is a character string, and it doesn't seem to work. It either goes into an endless loop, or it sorts them around, and puts em back in their original order. I used a typical bubble sort, and it worked fine in an array of character strings, but I suppose it doesn't work well for a linked list.

Heres the code I used:

Code:

---


        COMMAND_DATA *cmd, *cmd2, *temp;

        for(cmd=first_command;cmd!=NULL;cmd=cmd->next){
                for(cmd2=first_command;cmd2!=NULL;cmd=cmd2->next){
                        if(cmd->name<cmd2->name){
                                temp=cmd;
                                cmd=cmd2;
                                cmd2=temp;
                        }
                }
        }

---

Could someone please enlighten me on a way that will actually work? Or tell me if I made a stupid mistake? Thanks.

Well for one:
>>>
cmd2 = first_command;
cmd2 != NULL;
cmd = cmd2->next
<<<
I'm sure you see it by now...(and here's a good argument for using unique names ;) )

Also, you can't compare character arrays as you would numbers. All you're doing is comparing their addresses. Use strcmp or stricmp. They return negative if the first string is 'less' than the second, positive if otherwise, and zero if they are identical.

Thank you, I'll see what I can do with that. Although I must say I've rewritten that loops several several times, and it might just be a typo for when I posted it(i had to type it up real quick, becuase I deleted the code in the program I was writing).

However, the comparing addresses I most definitley didn't know about. I figured itd work the same as comapring character arrays, or something of the sort.

Thanks again. :)

Oh, and on the unique names I used cmd2 sort of as a form to know that it was the second one running through the list. I suppose you could use it as an argument, and maybe changing it would prevent any typos... but the rest of my code is a little more unique in the names. :)

Ok, now that I have some more time I will explain to you what's wrong with your program. Look at how a doubly linked list is structured:

Code:

---


NULL <- h -> n <- n -> n
        h <- n -> n <- n -> NULL

---

...where each double-stacked letter is a single node.

Now look at your code. You are basically sorting pointers! Making iterator 'cmd' point to the object pointed to by 'cmd2', and so forth. An iterator merely 'stands in the shoes' of the current list object. It is *not* the object itself. Thus, the only useful thing to do is 'comandeer' the object's 'next' and 'previous' pointers. This is how you sort a linked list.

Well, after staring at the code for a few hours, and thinking hard about how pointers worked I came up with a similiar conclusion. I figured I was just making cmd, and cmd2 point at each other. Simple enough?

Not sure exactley how I'm supposed to 'commondeer', but I suppose I came up with a work around.

Being as the commands are saved in a file, and loaded later... I figure I grab all the command names, put em in an array, sort the array, and then save the commands in the order of the array. Good enough, eh?

One problem... how do I allocate memory as needed for a multideminsional array? command_names[][]; ?

If no one replies soon, I'll make a new post.

Ignore this. :P