Sorting a String Array Alphabetically C++

Question

I'm trying to write a program that is given the following structures:

struct aPlayer {
  string name;  // name of player
  int wins;     // number of wins player has
};

struct aCompetition {
  string  name;                 // name of the match
  int     numPlayers;           // number of players in the club
  aPlayer player[10];           // list of players in this club
};

From there I want to write a function that will sort the players by name alphabetically. The function declaration would be as follows:

    void sortByName(aCompetition & c){}

Note: I would like to do this by only using for loops, while loops, and if statement(s). The only way I could think to compare the two strings would be to compare their ASCII values. I'm not sure how to do that so any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Assuming this is for homework (and if it's not, doing this by yourself will help you a lot more than just seeing the answer,) I'm just going to give you a few pointers to help you out.

Compare ASCII values:

aPlayer player1, player2;
player1.name = "bill";
player2.name = "john";
if (player1.name[0] < player2.name[0])
{
    // True, in this case, because b is less than j on the ascii table.
}

http://www.asciitable.com for the ascii values. I recommend using tolower() on the player names, because capital letters are lower values than lower case letters.

If the first digit is equal, move on to the second: (One way of doing this.)

aPlayer player1, player2;
player1.name = "alfred";
player2.name = "alvin";

// Find which name is shorter using .length() like player2.name.length()

// Loop through this next part for all aPlayers in aCompetition
for (int i = 0; i < shorterName.length(); i++)
{
    // Compare ascii values as I showed above.
    // If one is larger than the other, swap them.
}