CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
Sorts the elements on a list (either asc or desc, default is "asc") by their Len() value. Uses bubble sort internally and as such is not recommended for large lists.

Return Values:
Returns a string.

Example:

<cfset list = "55555,1,4444,333,7777777,88888888,22,999999999,666666">
<cfoutput>
original list = #list#<br>
Sorted Ascending = #ListSortByLen(list, "asc", ",")#<br>
Sorted Descending = #ListSortByLen(list, "desc", ",")#
</cfoutput>

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

/**
 * Sorts a list by the length of its elements.
 * 
 * @param list      The list to sort. (Required)
 * @param sortDir      Direction of sort. Default is "asc." (Optional)
 * @param delimiters      List delimiter. Default is a comma. (Optional)
 * @return Returns a string. 
 * @author Rob Baxter (rob@microjuris.com) 
 * @version 1, April 30, 2003 
 */
function ListSortByLen(ListToSort) {
    var SortOrder = "asc";
    var Delimiters = ",";
    var ListIsSorted = "no";
    var ListLen = ListLen(ListToSort, Delimiters);
    var CurListItem = "";
    var NextListItem = "";

    if (ArrayLen(Arguments) gt 1) SortOrder = Arguments[2];
    
    if (ArrayLen(Arguments) gt 2) Delimiters = Arguments[3];
        
    while (Not ListIsSorted) {
        ListIsSorted = "yes";
        for (N = 1; N+1 lte ListLen; N=N+1) {
            CurListItem = ListGetAt(ListToSort, N, Delimiters);
            NextListItem = ListGetAt(ListToSort, N+1, Delimiters);
            
            if( (sortOrder is "asc" and len(curListItem) gt len(nextListItem)) or (sortOrder is "desc" and len(curListItem) lt len(nextListItem))) {
                listToSort = listSetAt(listToSort,n,nextListItem,delimiters);
                listToSort = listSetAt(listToSort,n+1,curListItem,delimiters);
                ListIsSorted = "no";
            }
        }
    }
    return ListToSort;
}