RE: Sorting Question

["Dennis Lovelady" <iseries@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > Instead of trying to add leading zeros to the digits (which is a bad
> > idea) consider sorting based on the output of inet_addr().  The
> > inet_addr() routine will convert the IP address to a 32-bit unsigned
> > integer (which is what's REALLY used in network packets, the
> > dotted-decimal representation of the octets is just for human
> consumption).
>
> Best idea yet.

I agree that this is an approach that can be created to be trouble free, but
I wonder at the reason for turning such a task into an elaborate program,
especially when there's a utility (such as Unix sort) available to perform
the function for you.  I wonder also at the time spent in creating, testing,
promoting, re-testing, documenting such programs.

Dennis Lovelady
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislovelady
--
"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin
where he was."
        -- Richard L. Evans