One more comment about this. Even though I have referred to the thing as "array sorting", the fact is that I see it more as "Iterate over the array in a sorted order" than as actually "sorting the array". I think the thread's original OP kind of got into the weeds by talking about the actual representation of the array in memory. I.e., the point is that the array itself should not be thought of as being sorted; i.e., the internal representation does not change.
Rather, the sorting is a functionality associated with the "for" statement. That's how it works in GAWK, and I think that should be the model for how it should work in bash. ================================================================================= Please do not send me replies to my posts on the list. I always read the replies via the web archive, so CC'ing to me is unnecessary. When responding to my posts, please try to refrain from giving bureaucratic answers. If you have nothing useful to say, then just click Next and go on. BTW, ain't interested in kludgey workarounds - got enough of my own! (YT id: 6H1lcubN0oE)
