*** src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/sort.cc.orig	2004-04-28 10:52:08.000000000 +0200
--- src/DLD-FUNCTIONS/sort.cc	2004-09-14 09:54:31.000000000 +0200
***************
*** 492,497 ****
--- 492,632 ----
    return retval;
  }
  
+ struct char_vec_index
+ {
+   char vec;
+   int indx;
+ };
+ 
+ bool
+ char_compare (char_vec_index *a, char_vec_index *b)
+ {
+   return (a->vec < b->vec);
+ }
+ 
+ template class octave_sort<char>;
+ template class octave_sort<char_vec_index *>;
+ 
+ static octave_value_list
+ mx_sort (charNDArray &m, bool return_idx, int dim)
+ {
+   octave_value_list retval;
+ 
+   if (m.length () < 1)
+     return retval;
+ 
+   dim_vector dv = m.dims ();
+   unsigned int ns = dv (dim);
+   unsigned int iter = dv.numel () / ns;
+   unsigned int stride = 1;
+   for (unsigned int i = 0; i < (unsigned int)dim; i++)
+     stride *= dv(i);
+ 
+   if (return_idx)
+     {
+       char *v = m.fortran_vec ();
+       octave_sort<char_vec_index *> indexed_char_sort (char_compare);
+ 
+       OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char_vec_index *, vi, ns);
+       OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char_vec_index, vix, ns);
+ 
+       for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 	vi[i] = &vix[i];
+ 
+       NDArray idx (dv);
+       
+       if (stride == 1)
+ 	{
+ 	  for (unsigned int j = 0; j < iter; j++)
+ 	    {
+ 	      unsigned int offset = j * ns;
+ 
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		{
+ 		  vi[i]->vec = v[i];
+ 		  vi[i]->indx = i + 1;
+ 		}
+ 
+ 	      indexed_char_sort.sort (vi, ns);
+ 	  
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		{
+ 		  v[i] = vi[i]->vec;
+ 		  idx(i + offset) = vi[i]->indx;
+ 		}
+ 	      v += ns;
+ 	    }
+ 	}
+       else
+ 	{
+ 	  for (unsigned int j = 0; j < iter; j++)
+ 	    {
+ 	      unsigned int offset = j;
+ 	      unsigned int offset2 = 0;
+ 	      while (offset >= stride)
+ 		{
+ 		  offset -= stride;
+ 		  offset2++;
+ 		}
+ 	      offset += offset2 * stride * ns;
+ 	      
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		{
+ 		  vi[i]->vec = v[i*stride + offset];
+ 		  vi[i]->indx = i + 1;
+ 		}
+ 
+ 	      indexed_char_sort.sort (vi, ns);
+ 	      
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		{
+ 		  v[i*stride+offset] = vi[i]->vec;
+ 		  idx(i*stride+offset) = vi[i]->indx;
+ 		}
+ 	    }
+ 	}
+       retval (1) = idx;
+     }
+   else
+     {
+       char *v = m.fortran_vec ();
+       octave_sort<char> char_sort;
+ 
+       if (stride == 1)
+ 	for (unsigned int j = 0; j < iter; j++)
+ 	  {
+ 	    char_sort.sort (v, ns);
+ 	    v += ns;
+ 	  }
+       else
+ 	{
+ 	  OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char, vi, ns);
+ 	  for (unsigned int j = 0; j < iter; j++) 
+ 	    {
+ 	      unsigned int offset = j;
+ 	      unsigned int offset2 = 0;
+ 	      while (offset >= stride)
+ 		{
+ 		  offset -= stride;
+ 		  offset2++;
+ 		}
+ 	      offset += offset2 * stride * ns;
+ 
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		vi[i] = v[i*stride + offset];
+ 
+ 	      char_sort.sort (vi, ns);
+ 	      
+ 	      for (unsigned int i = 0; i < ns; i++)
+ 		v[i*stride + offset] = vi[i];
+ 	    }
+ 	}
+     }
+ 
+   retval(0) = octave_value (m, true);
+   return retval;
+ }
+ 
  DEFUN_DLD (sort, args, nargout,
    "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
  @deftypefn {Loadable Function} address@hidden, @var{i}] =} sort (@var{x})\n\
***************
*** 594,599 ****
--- 729,741 ----
        if (! error_state)
  	retval = mx_sort (cm, return_idx, dim);
      }
+   else if (arg.is_string ())
+     {
+       charNDArray chm = arg.char_array_value ();
+ 
+       if (! error_state)
+ 	retval = mx_sort (chm, return_idx, dim);
+     }
    else
      gripe_wrong_type_arg ("sort", arg);