ComparatorUtils

A collection of utilities for comparators.

Collaboration diagram for ComparatorUtils:

A collection of utilities for comparators.

#include <OpenMS/KERNEL/ComparatorUtils.h>

This file contains some lightweight class templates which simplify the (re-)usage and composition of comparator classes:

• ReverseComparator (reverse the direction of comparison)
• LexicographicComparator (combine comparators lexicographically)
• PointerComparator (compare pointers like the type they point to)

We provide corresponding "make-functions" so that you will not need to write out the type names in the template instantiation.

We explain this with a simple example. First a few prerequisites.

// --------------------------------------------------------------------------
//                   OpenMS -- Open-Source Mass Spectrometry
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Copyright The OpenMS Team -- Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen,
// ETH Zurich, and Freie Universitaet Berlin 2002-2021.
//
// This software is released under a three-clause BSD license:
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//    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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//    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
//    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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//    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
//    without specific prior written permission.
// For a full list of authors, refer to the file AUTHORS.
// --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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#include <OpenMS/KERNEL/ComparatorUtils.h>
#include <OpenMS/KERNEL/StandardTypes.h>
#include <OpenMS/KERNEL/MSExperiment.h>
#include <OpenMS/CONCEPT/Types.h>
 
using OpenMS::Int;
using OpenMS::UInt;
using OpenMS::Size;
using OpenMS::String;

The class IntRealString has three data members. The class IntRealStringVector is a vector of IntRealString. We add some print() methods for convenience.

 
// Simple class with three data members
class IntRealString
{
public:
  IntRealString(Int i, float r, String s) :
    i_(i), r_(r), s_(s) {}
  IntRealString(const IntRealString & rhs) :
    i_(rhs.i_), r_(rhs.r_), s_(rhs.s_) {}
 
  void print() const
  {
    std::cout << "(" << i_ << ", " << r_ << ", " << s_ << ")" << std::endl;
  }
 
  Int i_;
  float r_;
  String s_;
};
 
// A vector of IntRealString objects
class IntRealStringVector :
  public std::vector<IntRealString>
{
public:
  void print() const
  {
    for (Size i = 0; i < size(); ++i) (*this)[i].print();
    std::cout << std::endl;
  }
 
};

Now we will exercise various ways of sorting such a vector.

Of course, we could use the std::sort algorithm with a comparison function like the following.

 
// Comparison function
bool lessByInt(IntRealString left, IntRealString right)
{
  return left.i_ < right.i_;
}

This is straightforward but does not generalize well. Instead we introduce three comparator classes:

 
// Comparator class
struct LessByInt
{
  bool operator()(IntRealString left, IntRealString right) const { return left.i_ < right.i_; }
};
 
// Comparator class
struct LessByReal
{
  bool operator()(IntRealString left, IntRealString right) const { return left.r_ < right.r_; }
};
 
// Comparator class
struct LessByString
{
  bool operator()(IntRealString left, IntRealString right) const { return left.s_ < right.s_; }
};

Typedefs from std::binary_function were removed with the removal of the std class in C++17. Types are now automatically deduced by the compiler.

Now we show various uses of the reverseComparator and lexicographicComparator function templates.

 
Int main()
{
  IntRealStringVector vec;
  vec.push_back(IntRealString(1, 4.5f, "paul"));
  vec.push_back(IntRealString(2, 4.5f, "josie"));
  vec.push_back(IntRealString(1, 4.5f, "john"));
  vec.push_back(IntRealString(2, 3.9f, "kim"));
 
  std::cout << "After initialization:" << std::endl;
  vec.print();
 
  std::cout << "Sorted using lessByInt function:" << std::endl;
  std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), lessByInt);
  vec.print();
 
  std::cout << "Sorted using LessByInt comparator class:" << std::endl;
  std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), LessByInt());
  vec.print();
 
  std::cout << "Sorted using reversed LessByInt comparator class:" << std::endl;
  std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), OpenMS::reverseComparator(LessByInt()));
  vec.print();
 
  std::cout << "Sorted using lexicographic order: 1. LessByInt, 2. LessByReal" << std::endl;
  std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), OpenMS::lexicographicComparator(LessByInt(), LessByReal()));
  vec.print();
 
  std::cout << "Sorted using lexicographic order: 1. reversed LessByInt, 2. LessByReal, 3. LessByString" << std::endl;
  std::sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(),
            OpenMS::lexicographicComparator
              (OpenMS::lexicographicComparator
              (
                OpenMS::reverseComparator(LessByInt()),
                LessByReal()
              ),
              LessByString()
              )
            );
  vec.print();

And here is an application of the pointerComparator function template:

 
  // vector of pointers into vec
  std::vector<const IntRealString *> ptr_vec;
  for (Size i = 0; i < vec.size(); ++i)
  {
    ptr_vec.push_back(&vec[i]);
  }
 
  std::cout << "ptr_vec before sorting" << std::endl;
  for (Size i = 0; i < ptr_vec.size(); ++i)
    ptr_vec[i]->print();
  std::cout << std::endl;
 
  std::sort(ptr_vec.begin(), ptr_vec.end(), OpenMS::pointerComparator(LessByString()));
 
  std::cout << "ptr_vec after sorting with pointerComparator(LessByString())" << std::endl;
  for (Size i = 0; i < ptr_vec.size(); ++i)
    ptr_vec[i]->print();
  std::cout << std::endl;
 
  return 0;
} //end of main

The output of the example program is:

After initialization:
  (1, 4.5, paul)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
 
Sorted using lessByInt function:
  (1, 4.5, paul)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
 
Sorted using LessByInt comparator class:
  (1, 4.5, paul)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
 
Sorted using reversed LessByInt comparator class:
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
  (1, 4.5, paul)
  (1, 4.5, john)
 
Sorted using lexicographic order: 1. LessByInt, 2. LessByReal
  (1, 4.5, paul)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
 
Sorted using lexicographic order: 1. reversed LessByInt, 2. LessByReal, 3. LessByString
  (2, 3.9, kim)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (1, 4.5, paul)
 
ptr_vec before sorting
  (2, 3.9, kim)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (1, 4.5, paul)
 
ptr_vec after sorting with pointerComparator(LessByString())
  (1, 4.5, john)
  (2, 4.5, josie)
  (2, 3.9, kim)
  (1, 4.5, paul)

Note that pointerComparator can also be used with full-blown iterator classes. (It should work with everything that provides an operator*(), but the typedefs will always be pointers.)

Note that these templates can also be used with different types for "left" and "right".