Sorting an array of dictionationaries by the value of two of the values of the dictionaries

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#1

So I have a remote function which returns the leaderboard data of the round playing, this is not the global leaderboard this is an important distinction because I’m not interested in making an ordered datastore.

The remote function returns an array, normally indexed with a dictionary in the following format.

leaderBoardData = {
["kill"]  = 0,
["death"] = 0,
["Name"] = "",
["Team"] = "",
}

What I want to do is order the outer array so that the indexed dictionary with the highest kills, and if there is a tie with highest kills then select the one with the lowest deaths, to be placed first in the ordering.

Seems very simple. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around a more simple solution. I was thinking of using table.Sort, but that’s not really a viable method due to the fact it can’t sort dictionaries and the fact I need to sort depending on two values of the dictionary.

I’m not sure how I would start to script this.

Edit: ok I have one function which will compare two dictionaries and pick the better one of the two.

function betterPlacement(p1,p2)
	if p1["kill"] > p2["kill"] then
		return p1
	elseif p1["kill"] < p2["kill"] then
		return p2
	else
		if p1["death"] <= p2["death"] then
			return p1
		elseif p1["death"] > p2["death"] then
			return p2
		end
	end
end

Hope this function helps

edit: Oh wait I’m dumb I didn’t realize table.sort had a second argument

#2

Unfortunately, hash tables (dictionaries) cannot be sorted in Lua.

Tables can though.

#3

I don’t want to sort the dictionary I want to sort the array that contains all the dictionary

#4

I’m confused. You don’t have any table values in your dictionary; you have string keys and string or int values, so it’s a dictionary you’re trying to sort, which you can’t in this case. You can however, make a string key point to a table value, and then sort the table directly:

local dictionary = {
["Stones"] = {1, 2, 3}; --//Sort the table here
}
#5

You are misunderstanding me. I have an array which each index has a dictionary. I am still trying to sort an array, what I am not trying to do is sort a dictionary.

#6

I really have no clue as to what you’re trying to achieve here.

Your sample code is indeed a dictionary, which can’t be sorted.

#7

Fix the title! It’s confusing!

1 Like
#8

If I understood the question correctly, something like this?

-- convert the dictionary into an array, which would then contain dictionaries (which would be every player's stats individually)
-- get every player's data in this table

local statsForAllPlayers = {  -- contains sample data (not sorted)
  {name = "player1", kills = 0, deaths = 99, team = "team1"},
  {name = "player2", kills = 9, deaths = 1, team = "team2"},
  {name = "player3", kills = 3, deaths = 20, team = "team3"},
}

table.sort(statsForAllPlayers, function (a, b)
   return a.kills < b.kills
end
)

for _, stat in ipairs(statsForAllPlayers) do
    print(stat.name, " = ", stat.kills)
end

-- prints every player's name and kills,  with the ascending order of kills

Edit: just flip the operator in the predicate function to > for descending order.

1 Like
#9

Here’s a sorting function that does what you want:

table.sort(statsForAllPlayers, function(a, b)
    return (a.kills > b.kills) or (a.kills == b.kills and a.deaths < b.deaths)
end)

You can’t use ... or (a.deaths < b.deaths) because that way, sort(a, b) will not always equal sort(b, a).

Using this test data:

local statsForAllPlayers = {  -- contains sample data (not sorted)
  {name = "player1", kills = 0, deaths = 99, team = "team1"},
  {name = "player4", kills = 9, deaths = 2, team = "team2"},
  {name = "player2", kills = 9, deaths = 1, team = "team2"},
  {name = "player3", kills = 3, deaths = 20, team = "team3"},
  {name = "player5", kills = 3, deaths = 1, team = "team2"},
}

I get these results:

name kills deaths team
player2 9 1 team2
player4 9 2 team2
player5 3 1 team2
player3 3 20 team3
player1 0 99 team1

Which seems correct.

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