Natural Sort issue

[pixelsearch]

Hi everybody 
Could you please confirm the Console display of this script on your computer ?

Local $r1 = _NaturalSort("15", "-15")  ; - 1
Local $r2 = _NaturalSort(".12", "15")  ; - 1
Local $r3 = _NaturalSort("-15", ".12") ; - 1

ConsoleWrite("$r1 = " & $r1 & "   $r2 = " & $r2 & "   $r3 = " & $r3 & @crlf)

Func _NaturalSort($sElem1, $sElem2)
    Return DllCall("shlwapi.dll", 'int', 'StrCmpLogicalW', 'wstr', $sElem1, 'wstr', $sElem2)[0]
EndFunc

Console display :

$r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = -1

I got -1 three times, which means that :
* $r1 : "15"  has a lesser value than "-15" (msdn page)
* $r2 : ".12" has a lesser value than "15"
* $r3 : "-15" has a lesser value than ".12"

But something seems wrong because of the following incompatibility.
It will be sorted this way, when based on $r1 and $r3 results :
"15" < "-15" < ".12"

Or that way, based on $r2 and $r1 results :
".12" < "15" < "-15"

Or even like that, based on $r3 and $r2 results :
"-15" < ".12" < "15"

This could explain why I got "naturally sorted" rows placed differently, based on a same* initial array (same* means the same value of the elements, not considering their initial position in the unsorted array)

In my mind, no matter how the initial array is displayed before sorting, the result should be the same after the natural sort... but it's not : an array having its rows initially displayed as  "15", "-15", ".12" won't naturally sort same as if its rows were displayed as ".12" , "-15", "15" and the output will very often be different.

I'm aware this kind of values should be better treated using a numeric sort, but it's not a reason to ignore the potential problem caused by dots and minus signs during a natural sort.

There's a guy at this link who commented about this, at the very end of the web page :

It seems to be a misfeature of the "Natural sorting" function StrCmpLogicalW,
which sorts numbers by their value instead of sorting them althabetically,
e.g. 99 comes before 100. I guess it sees the "-" as a negative sign, and therefore ignores it.

Author of Total Commander
http://www.ghisler.com

But I'm not even sure this applies fully to the preceding issue (his comment about the minus sign)

So could you guys, please confirm that you got the Console display result "-1" three times ?
I hope you'll get a different result, it could mean that your newer version of "shlwapi.dll" has corrected this kind of discrepancy.

Especially when this note is written at the end of MS web page (msdn link above)

Note  Behavior of this function, and therefore the results it returns, can change from release to release. It should not be used for canonical sorting applications.

Thanks 

[Melba23]

pixelsearch,

$r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = 1

3.3.16.0 on 64-bit Win 10 Hone 21H2.

M23

[pixelsearch]

Great, that explains it all.

I was about to add a comment in my initial post, indicating that all values were unique (to eliminate the unstable/stable sort question) but it's not necessary now that you indicate that $r3 = 1 on your computer, which means a newer version of "shlwapi.dll" (this issue has nothing to do with AutoIt)

Ty M23 

Edited March 20, 2022 by pixelsearch
M23, not MB23

[Exit]

AutoItVersion: 3.3.16.0
AutoItX64: 1
CPUArch: X64
OSArch: X64
OSVersion: WIN_11
OSBuild: 22000

$r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = 1
 

[pixelsearch]

Thanks Exit for the test 
Now that you and M23 confirmed that $r3 = 1 on your computers, It makes me wonder if the C++ update code I added yesterday in this link was really necessary :

"Added a 2nd way for Natural sorting (LarsJ's index creation adapted to C++)

Anyway it's done and I'll let it there, especially I'm not sure how C++ Sort native function (which is boolean) can correctly deal with StrCmpLogicalW() which returns 3 possible values : -1, 0 or 1

And also because I added a personal stable sort part to LarsJ's code, in another C++ function. Who knows, it may be useful at times. But where is LarsJ, long time no see !
 

Edited March 20, 2022 by pixelsearch
typo

[Musashi]

Your issue has apparently been resolved.  
Nevertheless, here is the result from an older system environment .

AutoIt = 3.3.14.0,  OS = WIN_7 Service Pack 1  CPU : X64  OS : X64

$r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = 1

 

[argumentum]

XP 32 bit: $r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = -1 ( both, 3.3.14.5 and 3.3.16.0 )
Edit: same in XP64SP2.

Edited March 23, 2022 by argumentum

[ad777]

Windows 7 32 bit.

AutoIt_Version: 3.3.16.0

$r1 = -1   $r2 = -1   $r3 = 1