alphabetically sort a hash table in javascript

Question

I am trying to sort a hashtable (originally called "resultVal") alphabetically in javascript.

// initializing an array with all the keys. //
var keys = [];
// populating it with all the keys in the hashtable. //
for (var key in resultVal) {
    if (resultVal.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        keys.push(key);
    }
}
// Alphabetically sorting the array populated with hash table keys. //
keys.sort();
var temp = {};

for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
    var key = keys[i];
    var value = resultVal[key];
    if (key != "") {
        temp[key].push(value);
    }
}

My issue is with the last statement :-

temp[key].push(value);

What I am doing is, sort the keys alphabetically and re-feed the key and its respective values into a temp hashtable..."temp".

The push statement isn't being recognized. can anyone help?

Since object properties are not sorted, there really is no need to do all of this. If you need to access the values in a sorted ordered at some point, extract and sort the keys later on. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jun 10, 2013 at 18:33

Justin Niessner · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-10 18:21:21Z

2

temp is defined as an object, not an array. There's no need to push() onto it:

temp[key] = value;

answered Jun 10, 2013 at 18:21

Justin Niessner

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4 Comments

Philo Over a year ago

thanks man, worked! Could you explain why exactly it is not necessary to push into an object as opposed to an array. Because when I created the hashtable I merged two separate arrays and used the push functionality. I apologize for the noobish=ness.

nderscore Over a year ago

The value stored at temp[key] is not an array. You would have to define an array object in that position of the temp array if you want to push onto it.

Grzegorz Kaczan Over a year ago

Also, be aware of the fact that properties in JS might have different position (depending on JS engine/browser and its name). So if you need specific positions of props, always use an array.

Philo Over a year ago

in my code, the value is a list of dates aka a 1 dimensional array with dates. hence i thought I had to push them into the temp of key position. however now it makes sense! thanks all!

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