[Info-vax] Suggestion: Adding a /SORT option to DIRECTORY and F$SEARCH ?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 1/31/2022 12:12 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 1/31/22 09:58, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 1/31/2022 7:17 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>> In article <sspht9$20h$1 at dont-email.me>, Simon Clubley
>>> <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>>
>>>> It would be nice to be able to see the output from a DIRECTORY command
>>>> optionally sorted by one of largest size, smallest size, oldest date,
>>>> newest date, etc.
>>>>
>>>> Likewise, it would be nice to be able to optionally specify the sort
>>>> order in which filenames are returned by f$search().
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone agree ?
>>>
>>> Yes, would be nice.
>>>
>>> ----------8<-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>>
>>>
>>> 1 SDIR
>>>
>>> The Sorted DIRectory command produces a directory listing sorted by 
>>> either
>>> creation date or size.  The default is date.  If no filespec is 
>>> specified,
>>> the current directory is listed.
>>>
>>> Note that none of the system DIRECTORY command qualifiers work.
>>>
>>>      SDIR [qualifiers] [filespec]
>>>
>>> /Descending
>>>
>>> Causes the output to be printed in descending order instead of ascending
>>> order.  By default, the most recent files (or largest) are produced at
>>> the end of the list.  /Descned will reverse the order.
>>>
>>> /Size
>>>
>>> Causes the listing to be sorted by file size instead of date.
>>>
>>>        PROGRAM SDIR
>>
>> Fortran
>>
>> :-)
>>
>> But try and compare number of lines with the Python code.
> 
> The point being?

That Fortran may not be the right language for the task.

And just for the record: Python is a good choice for
a user solution, but not for a VSI solution.

Arne