Question

I have an NSMutableArray full of NSDictionary objects. Like so

NSMutableArray *names = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for (NSString *string in pathsArray) {
    NSString *path = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"/usr/etc/%@",string];
    NSDictionary *dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:string,@"name",path,@"path",nil];
}

pathsArray is not sortable, so I’m stuck with the order of objects inside of it. I would like to sort the names array in alphabetical order of the objects for the key: @”name” in the dictionary. Can this be done easily or will it take several levels of enumeration?

EDIT: I Found the answer on SO in this question: Sort NSMutableArray

NSSortDescriptor class.

NSSortDescriptor *sortName = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"name" ascending:YES];
[names sortUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:sortName]];
[sortName release];

Anyone care to get some free answer points?

Answer 1

Try something like this:

 NSSortDescriptor *sortDescriptor = [[[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"name"
                                          ascending:YES] autorelease];
 NSArray *sortDescriptors = [NSArray arrayWithObject:sortDescriptor];
 NSArray *sortedArray = [names sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:sortDescriptors];

 // names : the same name of the array you provided in your question.