I want to write a 8086 assembly program that takes 5 strings from the user as an input and then sorts these strings and prints the sorted result as an output. I actually do everything but I have a big problem with the sorting part. I know how to use a for example bubble sort to sort the items in an array that start from a specific address but here I have 5 different strings that are not in the same array. each string has its own address and its own characters. I try to compare last character of each string with each other and then if one is bigger that another one i swap the whole string and then I go on and do that for the whole characters of all string to the first.
For example if our input strings are:
eab
abe
cbd
cda
adb
I will first sort the last character of every string and I come up with this:
cda
eab
adb
cbd
abe
Then I will compare them by the middle character:
eab
cbd
abe
cda
adb
and at last with the first character and everything is sorted:
abe
adb
cbd
cda
eab
but it is actually what in my mind and I don't have any idea who to implement that for my job.
; multi-segment executable file template. data segment data1 db 64,?,64 dup(?) data2 db 64,?,64 dup(?) data3 db 64,?,64 dup(?) data4 db 64,?,64 dup(?) data5 db 64,?,64 dup(?) change db 66 dup(?) msg db 0ah,0dh,"You enter a wrong option",0ah,0dh,"try again",0ah,0dh,"$" prompt db 0ah,0dh,"Choose an option:",0ah,0dh,"$" prompt1 db ".a: Sort in ascending order",0ah,0dh,"$" prompt2 db ".d: Sort in descending order",0ah,0dh,"$" prompt3 db ".q: Quit",0ah,0ah,0dh,"$" enter db 0ah,0ah,0dh,"Enter 5 strings:",0ah,0dh,"$" pkey db 0ah,0dh,"press any key...$" ends stack segment dw 128 dup(0) ends code segment main proc far ; set segment registers: mov ax, data mov ds, ax mov es, ax again: ; printing the prompts for the user lea dx, prompt mov ah, 09h int 21h lea dx, prompt1 mov ah, 09h int 21h lea dx, prompt2 mov ah, 09h int 21h lea dx, prompt3 mov ah, 09h int 21h ; getting a character from the user as an input mov ah, 01h int 21h ; determining which option the user selects cmp al, 'a' je ascending cmp al, 'd' je descending cmp al, 'q' je quit ; this is for the time that the user enters a wrong char lea dx, msg mov ah, 09h int 21h jmp again ; again calling the application to start ascending: call input call AscendSort jmp again ; again calling the application to start descending: call input call DescendSort jmp again ; again calling the application to start quit: lea dx, pkey mov ah, 9 int 21h ; output string at ds:dx ; wait for any key.... mov ah, 1 int 21h mov ax, 4c00h ; exit to operating system. int 21h main endp ;................................................. ; this subroutine gets input from user input proc lea dx, enter mov ah, 09h int 21h call newline mov ah, 0ah lea dx, data1 int 21h call newline mov ah, 0ah lea dx, data2 int 21h call newline mov ah, 0ah lea dx, data3 int 21h call newline mov ah, 0ah lea dx, data4 int 21h call newline mov ah, 0ah lea dx, data2 int 21h call newline ret input endp ;................................................ ; sorting the strings in the ascending order AscendSort proc mov si, 65 lea dx, change mov al, data1[si] cmp al, data2[si] ja l1 ????? ret AscendSort endp ;................................................ ; sorting the strings in the descending order DescendSort proc ret DescendSort endp ;................................................ ; newline newline proc mov ah, 02h mov dl, 0ah int 21h mov dl, 0dh int 21h ret newline endp ends end main ; set entry point and stop the assembler.
Any other algorithm for sorting these whole strings also will be appreciated.