NAME

       Sort::Key::Maker - multikey sorter creator

SYNOPSYS

         # create a function that sorts strings by length:
         use Sort::Key::Maker sort_by_length => sub { length $_},  qw(integer);

         # create a multikey sort function;
         # first key is integer sorted in descending order,
         # second key is a string in default (ascending) order:
         use Sort::Key::Maker ri_s_keysort => qw(-integer string);

         # some sample data...
         my @foo = qw(foo bar t too tood mama);

         # and now, use the sorter functions previously made:

         # get the values on @foo sorted by length:
         my @sorted = sort_by_length @foo;

         # sort @foo inplace by its length and then by its value:
         ri_s_keysort_inplace { length $_, $_ } @foo;

DESCRIPTION

       Sort::Key::Maker is a pragmatic module that provides an easy to use interface to Sort::Key
       multikey sorting functionality.

       It creates multikey sorting functions on the fly for any key type combination and exports
       them to the caller package.

       The key types natively accepted are:

         string, str, locale, loc, integer, int,
         unsigned_integer, uint, number, num

       and support for other types can be added via Sort::Key::Register (or also via
       Sort::Key::register_type()).

   USAGE
       use Sort::Key::Maker foo_sort => @keys;
           exports two subroutines to the caller package: "foo_sort (&@)" and "foo_sort_inplace
           (&\@)".

           Those two subroutines require a sub reference as their first argument and then
           respectively, the list to be sorted or an array.

           For instance:

             use Sort::Key::Maker bar_sort => qw(int int str);

             @bar=qw(doo tomo 45s tio);
             @sorted = bar_sort { unpack "CCs", $_ } @bar;
             # or sorting @bar inplace
             bar_sort_inplace { unpack "CCs", $_ } @bar;

       use Sort::Key::Maker foo_sort => \&genmultikey, @keys;
           when the first argument after the sorter name is a reference to a subroutine it is
           used as the multikey extraction function. The generated sorter functions doesn't
           require neither accept one, i.e.:

             use Sort::Key::Maker sort_by_length => sub { length $_ }, 'int';
             my @sorted = sort_by_length qw(foo goo h mama picasso);

SEE ALSO

       Sort::Key, Sort::Key::Register.

       Sort::Maker also available from CPAN provides similar functionality.

AUTHOR

       Salvador Fandin~o, <sfandino@yahoo.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright (C) 2005 by Salvador Fandin~o

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.4 or, at your option, any later version of
       Perl 5 you may have available.