nestedSortStruct.m

function [sortedStruct index] = nestedSortStruct(aStruct, fieldNamesCell, directions)
% [sortedStruct index] = nestedSortStruct(aStruct, fieldNamesCell, directions)
% nestedSortStruct returns a nested sort of a (one-dimensional) struct array
% (aStruct), and can also return an index vector. The fields by which to sort are
% specified in a cell array of strings fieldNamesCell. Fields must be single numbers or
% logicals, or chars (usually simple strings).
%
% fieldNamesCell can also be a simple string of one fieldname, in which case
% nestedSortStruct will simply call sortStruct. This will be faster than putting the
% single fieldname in a cell array.
%
% directions is an optional argument to specify whether the struct array should be sorted
% in ascending or descending order for the fields. By default, the struct array will be
% sorted in ascending order for each field. If supplied, directions must be
%       1) a single 1 to sort in ascending order for all fields, or
%       2) a single -1 to sort in descending order for all fields, or
%       3) a vector of 1's and -1's, the same length as fieldNamesCell, where the struct
%          array will be sorted in the order specified by directions(ii) for
%          fieldNamesCell(ii).
%
% nestedSortStruct basically converts the struct array to a cell array, then converts
% relevants parts of the cell array to a matrix, on which sortrows is run.
%
% nestedSortStruct will usually be faster than nestedSortStruct2. For nestedSortStruct,
% the speed of sorting is mostly independent of the order of the fieldnames in fieldNamesCell.
%
% For nestedSortStruct2, the order of the fields in fieldNamesCell affects the speed. The
% sooner a field for which most entries in the struct array have unique values will be
% used to sort the struct array (i.e., the earlier that field's location in
% fieldNamesCell), the faster nestedSortStruct2 will be. If a field with mostly unique
% entries is the first field by which the struct array will be sorted, nestedSortStruct2
% could be faster than nestedSortStruct.

%% check struct
if ~isstruct(aStruct)
    error('first input supplied is not a struct.')
end % if

if sum(size(aStruct)>1)>1 % if more than one non-singleton dimension
    error('I don''t want to sort your multidimensional struct array.')
end % if

%% check fieldnames
if ~iscell(fieldNamesCell)
    if isfield(aStruct, fieldNamesCell) % if fieldNamesCell is a simple string of a valid fieldname
        [sortedStruct index] = sortStruct(aStruct, fieldNamesCell);
        return
    else
        error('second input supplied is not a cell array or simple string of a fieldname.')
    end % if isfield
end % if ~iscell

if ~isfield(aStruct, fieldNamesCell)
    for ii=find(~isfield(aStruct, fieldNamesCell))
        fprintf('%s is not a fieldname in the struct.\n', fieldNamesCell{ii})
    end % for
    error('at least one entry in fieldNamesCell is not a fieldname in the struct.')
end % if

%% check classes of fieldnames
fieldFlag = 0;
for ii=1:length(fieldNamesCell)
    fieldEntry = aStruct(1).(fieldNamesCell{ii});
    if ~( ((isnumeric(fieldEntry) || islogical(fieldEntry)) && numel(fieldEntry)==1) || ischar(fieldEntry) )
        fprintf('%s is not a valid fieldname by which to sort.\n', fieldNamesCell{ii})
        fieldFlag = 1;
    end % if
end % for ii

if fieldFlag
    error('at least one fieldname is not a valid one by which to sort.')
end

%% check directions, create if necessary (1 for ascending, -1 for descending)
if nargin < 3 % if directions doesn't exist
    directions = ones(1, length(fieldNamesCell));
else % check directions if it does exist
    if ~(isnumeric(directions) && all(ismember(directions, [-1 1])))
        error('directions, if given, must be a single number or a vector with 1 (ascending) and -1 (descending).')
    end % if ~(...
    
    if numel(directions)==1
        directions = directions * ones(1, length(fieldNamesCell)); % create vector from single element
    elseif length(fieldNamesCell)~=length(directions)
        error('fieldNamesCell and directions vector are different lengths.')
    end % if numel...
end % if exist...

%% fieldNamesIdx is a vector of the indices of the fields by which to sort
[dummy fieldNamesIdx] = ismember(fieldNamesCell, fieldnames(aStruct));

%% convert the struct to a cell, squeeze makes sure both row and column arrays are sorted properly, transpose for sortrows
aCell = squeeze(struct2cell(aStruct))';

%% sortrows of aCell, using indices from fieldNamesIdx and directions
[sortedCell index] = sortrows(aCell, fieldNamesIdx .* directions);

sortedStruct = aStruct(index); % apply the index to the struct array