How to sort this array with hashes? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to sort an array of javascript objects?

I have output that looks like this:

[ { value: 1, count: 1 }, { value: 2, count: 2 } ]

I need to iterate through hashes in the array and then return the value number which has the highest count. Seems simple but I'm a bit stumped. I've tried using a separate array to save both sets of values but I can't figure out the best way to do it.

Do you actually need to sort the array to get the element with the highest count? Also, is this homework? — Waleed Khan
– Waleed Khan, Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 2:22
Nope, not homework. Also you're right, I guess sorting is not the right way to describe it. I simply need the value that corresponds to the highest count — dsp_099
– dsp_099, Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 2:22
Asked a bunch of times and JavaScript does not have hashes. ;) — epascarello
– epascarello, Commented Jul 18, 2012 at 2:24

davidbuzatto · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-18 02:45:17Z

2

You can do something like this:

var a = [{
    value: 1,
    count: 1
}, {
    value: 2,
    count: 2
}, {
    value: 7,
    count: 8
}, {
    value: 5,
    count: 0
}, {
    value: 10,
    count: 3
}];

// sorting using a custom sort function to sort the 
// greatest counts to the start of the array
// take a look here: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_sort.asp
// to understand how the custom sort function works
// better references can be found 
// here: http://es5.github.com/#x15.4.4.11
// and here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/sort
a.sort( function( v1, v2 ){
    return v2.count - v1.count;
});

for ( var i in a ) {
    console.log( a[i] );
}

// the greatest one is the first element of the array
var greatestCount = a[0];

console.log( "Greatest count: " + greatestCount.count );