Suppose I have a function f that takes a vector v and returns a new vector with the elements transformed in some way. It does that by calling function g that assumes the vector is sorted. So I want f to be defined like so:
f[v_] := Module[{s, r},
s = Sort[v]; (* remember the permutation applied in order to sort v *)
r = g[s];
Unsort[r] (* apply the inverse of that permutation *)
]
What's the best way to do the "Unsort"?
Or could we get really fancy and have this somehow work:
answer = Unsort[g[Sort[v]]];
ADDED: Let's make this concrete with a toy example. Suppose we want a function f that takes a vector and transforms it by adding to each element the next smallest element, if any. That's easy to write if we assume the vector is sorted, so let's write a helper function g that makes that assumption:
g[v_] := v + Prepend[Most@v, 0]
Now for the function we really want, f, that works whether or not v is sorted:
f[v_] := (* remember the order;
sort it;
call g on it;
put it back in the original order;
return it
*)
One possible method:
mylist = {c, 1, a, b, 2, 4, h, \[Pi]}
g /@ (Sort@mylist)[[Ordering@Ordering@mylist]]
gives
{g[c], g1, g[a], g[b], g[2], g[4], g[h], g[[Pi]]}
That is,
(Sort@mylist)[[Ordering@Ordering@mylist]] == mylist
I originally learned of the above from MathGroup, [EDITED] from a post by Andrzej Kozlowski
http://forums.wolfram.com/mathgroup/archive/2007/Jun/msg00920.html
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