Lua - Sorting a Table by String

Question

I have made a LUA table like so for my scoreboard:

Score.Ranks = {}

Score.Ranks["superadmin"]     = {name = "Boss", col = Color(183, 109, 253) }
Score.Ranks["operator"]       = {name = "Chief", col = Color(254, 129, 1) }
Score.Ranks["commander"]      = {name = "Commander", col = Color(222, 54, 54) }
Score.Ranks["moderator"]      = {name = "Director", col = Color(53, 225, 227) }

I want to sort this Table such that the 'names' are sorted in the following order when displayed on my scoreboard:

Boss
Director
Commander
Chief

How can I do this?

Answer 1

you can only sort a table with numeric indexes,so first convert the table:

Score.Ranks = {}

Score.Ranks["operator"]       = {name = "Chief", col = Color(254, 129, 1) }
Score.Ranks["superadmin"]     = {name = "Boss", col = Color(183, 109, 253) }
Score.Ranks["commander"]      = {name = "Commander", col = Color(222, 54, 54) }
Score.Ranks["moderator"]      = {name = "Director", col = Color(53, 225, 227) }

local tmp_t = {}
for k,v in pairs(Score.Ranks) do
    local rank = (k=="superadmin") and 1 or (k=="operator" and 3 or 2) 
    table.insert(tmp_t, { rank = rank .. v.name, key = k, name = v.name, col = v.col} )
end

then the table is sorted by name and then use it.

    table.sort(tmp_t ,  function (a, b) return  (a.rank <  b.rank ) end)        
    for k,v in pairs(tmp_t) do
         print(k , v.rank, v.key, v.name)
    end
 

Answer 2

As you only have 4 items I'd simply sort them by hand.

print("Scoreboard:")
print(Score.Ranks.superadmin.name)
print(Score.Ranks.moderator.name)
print(Score.Ranks.commander.name)
print(Score.Ranks.operator.name)

You have to tell your computer that superadmin comes befor moderator in order to sort it later. But if you have to enter a priority for each entry anyway, there is no need to sort. Its not that you could derive an order from any property.