Question

I’m wondering if it’s possible if you have, for example, a vector<string> and a vector<double> with corresponding pairs, to sort the vector<string> alphabetically while keeping the pairs matched up.

I know this can be done by creating a class that holds both values and just sorting that, but I’d rather keep two separate vectors.

Any ideas?

Final Code:

#include "std_lib_facilities.h"

struct Name_pairs
{
       vector<string>names;
       vector<double>ages;
       void quicksort(vector<string>& num, vector<double>& num2, int top, int bottom);
       int divide(vector<string>& array, vector<double>& array2, int top, int bottom);
       bool test();
       string read_names();
       double read_ages();
       void print();
};

string Name_pairs::read_names()
{
       string name;
     cout << "Enter name: ";
     cin >> name;
     names.push_back(name);
     return name;
}

double Name_pairs::read_ages()
{
     double age;
     cout << "Enter corresponding age: ";
     cin >> age;
     ages.push_back(age);
     cout << endl;
     return age;
}

int Name_pairs::divide(vector<string>& array, vector<double>& array2, int top, int bottom)
{
    string x = array[top];
    int i = top-1;
    int j = bottom+1;
    string temp;
    double temp2;
    do{
        do
        {
             j--;
             }while(x<array[j]);

        do
        {
             i++;
             }while(x>array[i]);

        if(i<j)
        {
               temp = array[i];
               temp2 = array2[i];
               array[i] = array[j];
               array2[i] = array2[j];
               array[j] = temp;
               array2[j] = temp2;
               }
               }while(i<j);
        return j;
}


void Name_pairs::quicksort(vector<string>& num, vector<double>& num2, int top, int bottom) // top is subscript of beginning of vector
{
     int middle;
     if(top < bottom)
     {
            middle = divide(num, num2, top, bottom);
            quicksort(num, num2, top, middle);
            quicksort(num, num2, middle+1, bottom);
            }
     return;
}

void Name_pairs::print()
{
     for(int i = 0; i < (names.size()-1) && i < (ages.size()-1); ++i)
             cout << names[i] << " , " << ages[i] << endl;
}

int main(){
    Name_pairs np;
    cout << "Enter names and ages. Use 0 to cancel.\n";
    bool finished = false;
    while(!finished){
    finished = "0" == np.read_names();
    finished = 0 == np.read_ages();}
    np.quicksort(np.names, np.ages, 0, (np.names.size()-2));
    np.print();
    keep_window_open();}

Answer 1

If you intend to use std::sort, you will need to use a datastructure like a pair.
You can, of course, manually sort the vectors, and essentially reimplement std::sort.

This question really depends on a great number of other questions, such as:

• How many items will be in the vectors?
• How critical is performance?
• Do you REALLY want to implement your own sort algorithm?

Implementing a quicksort should be fairly painless, and will allow you to avoid moving the data around.