Angularjs : how to orderBy an array without keys?

Just vanilla Array.sort !

very basic exemple !

var arr = [[ 'A2', 'A3', 'X' ], [ 'A1', 'Z', 'VZZ' ] ,  [ 'A4', 'P', 'VZZ' ]  , [ 'A3', 'X', 'VZZ' ]];


console.dir( arr.sort(function(a , b){ return a[0] < b[0]} );

I dont know about using orderBy in this case but you can use a custom filter like this:

suppose your markup is like this:

<div ng-repeat="item in array">
</div>

Now, add a custom filter like this:

<div ng-repeat="item in array | customOrder">
</div>

Now define the filter like this:

app.filter('customOrder', function() {
    return function(collection) {
        //collection is your complete array
        //sort the collection
        collection.sort(function(a, b) {
            return a[0] - b[0]; //sort the collection using the first element of the array
        }) 

        //finally returned the sorted collection
        return collection;
    }
})

You don't need a custom sort function like other answers suggest, nor sort it in vanilla JS before using it.

You can sort it like:

... | orderBy: 'this[1]'

to order it by second (index 1) element.

Also you can just ad a minus to reverse it:

... | orderBy: '-this[1]'

Here's an example:

var app = angular.module('helloworld', []);
app.controller('TestController', function () {
    var test = this;
    this.orderIndex = 'this[1]';
    this.data = [
        [ 'A2', 'A3', 'X' ],
        [ 'A1', 'Z', 'VZZ' ]
    ];
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.4.7/angular.min.js"></script>
<table ng-app="helloworld" ng-controller="TestController as test" border="1" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3>
  <tbody>
    <tr ng-repeat="row in test.data | orderBy:test.orderIndex">
      <td ng-repeat="column in row">{{ column }}</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

EDIT

I couldn't make it work to only manipulate number, but when I put a variable instead of whole orderBy condition, it works. You can replace whole part this[0] with a variable and manipulate that on your own.

So now you would have to find a way to manipulate this string.

Please check edited snippet above to see the idea.

Hope this helps.

define a function for orderBy to use which returns the first element of each sub array

Example in earlier post here

If you're iterating on the html like you said, you can use orderBy and do something like this:

HTML:

<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
    <div ng-repeat="val in array | orderBy:mySortFunction">{{val}}</div>
</div>

Controller:

function MyCtrl($scope) {
    $scope.array = [[ 'A2', 'A3', 'X' ],[ 'A1', 'Z', 'VZZ' ]];

    $scope.mySortFunction = function(v) {
       return v[0];
    };
}

Fiddle

a solution that takes care for alphanumeric comparison like your example:

array = [[ 'A2', 'A3', 'X' ], [ 'A1', 'Z', 'VZZ' ]];

//pattern that takes care of alphanumeric
var reA = /[^a-zA-Z]/g;
var reN = /[^0-9]/g;
console.log(array.sort(function(a,b){

    
    var aA = a[0].replace(reA, "");
    var bA = b[0].replace(reA, "");
    if(aA === bA) {
        var aN = parseInt(a[0].replace(reN, ""), 10);
        var bN = parseInt(b[0].replace(reN, ""), 10);
        return aN === bN ? 0 : aN > bN ? 1 : -1;
    } else {
        return aA > bA ? 1 : -1;
    }
}))

I dont have the permission to comment @dragoste response but i'm putting it here.

@Cheyenne55, to add a parameter by the view you need to add it to the $scope of your controller(that allows you to acess it directly from the view), in the example bellow you can select the parameters by a selector:

JS:

$scope.parameterOptions = [{
    'title':'first',
    'reference': 0
},{
    'title':'second',
    'reference': 1
},{
    'title':'third',
    'reference': 2
}];

$scope.parameterOptions = $scope.parameterOptions[0];

HTML:

<select ng-model="selectedParameter" ng-options="option.title for option in parameterOptions"></select>

<tr ng-repeat="row in test.data | orderBy:'-this[selectedParameter.reference]'"> <td ng-repeat="column in row">{{ column }}   </td>