Sort/select processing when sorting by associated fields

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Wed, Jan 30, 2008 at 01:28:30PM -0500, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> Quoting Jay R. Ashworth (Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:44:01 -0500):
> >On Wed, Jan 30, 2008 at 12:36:50PM -0500, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> >>If you have a file with 100 records, and each record has 5 non-blank
> >>instances of the associated field on which you are sorting, then the
> >>sort/select processing will be run 500 times, not 100.  It will be
> >>run for each non-blank instance of the associated field used for the
> >>sort.  (This allows you to select only certain instances from within
> >>your sort/select processing.)  If all instances of the field are
> >>blank within a given record, the first instance will be selected.
> >
> >That seems like a wart.  Why would it run it once?
> 
> Because that's the way it was designed.  When filePro is dealing with
> associated fields, it only cares about the non-blank instances.  But,
> it was also decided that, if all instances were blank, it would still
> use the first instance, and the first instance only.

I would assume that the reason it's doing it is because you *wanted it
to*, yes.  :-)

What I was trying to get at was why that decision was taken in the
first place.  We're assuming, here, a selection *set* (which supersedes
processing, right? -v only runs against the records that survive -s?)
that includes an associated field.  Or perhaps I've had too much to
drink.  Already.  :-)

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
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