sort array with integer strings type in jQuery

Question

I have a array of integers of type string.

var a = ['200','1','40','0','3'];

output

>>> var a = ['200','1','40','0','3'];
console.log(a.sort());
["0", "1", "200", "3", "40"]

I'll also have a mixed type array. e.g.

var c = ['200','1','40','apple','orange'];

output

>>> var c = ['200','1','40','apple','orange']; console.log(c.sort());
["1", "200", "40", "apple", "orange"]

==================================================
The integers of string type gets unsorted.

How do you need to sort it? Numbers first in numeric order, then alphas in alphabetical? — Comfortably Numb
– Comfortably Numb, Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 3:28
@user1051068 Please update the question with expected output. — thefourtheye
– thefourtheye, Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 3:36
@user1051068 Try ['200','1','40','orange','apple'] and you will see that strings are sorted, too. Your example has already sorted strings. And "1", "200", "40" is a correct order. — Cheery
– Cheery, Commented Sep 1, 2013 at 3:42

Kazuki · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-01 04:31:12Z

18

As others said, you can write your own comparison function:

var arr = ["200", "1", "40", "cat", "apple"]
arr.sort(function(a,b) {
  if (isNaN(a) || isNaN(b)) {
    return a > b ? 1 : -1;
  }
  return a - b;
});

// ["1", "40", "200", "apple", "cat"]

edited Sep 1, 2013 at 4:31

answered Sep 1, 2013 at 3:44

Kazuki

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3 Comments

Graham Walters Over a year ago

He added that after I finished :) Just updated mine, but I like your one liner

soulcheck Over a year ago

funny thing is that parseInt() is unnecesary (although it makes things clearer) :)

Santosh Mohanty Over a year ago

c = ['200','1','10','40','cba','abc']; Run the function ["200", "1", "10", "40", "cba", "abc"] No Luck

Graham Walters · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-02 13:11:48Z

6

This should be what you're looking for

var c = ['200','1','40','cba','abc'];
c.sort(function(a, b) {
  if (isNaN(a) || isNaN(b)) {
    if (a > b) return 1;
    else return -1;
  }
  return a - b;
});
// ["1", "40", "200", "abc", "cba"]

edited Sep 2, 2013 at 13:11

answered Sep 1, 2013 at 3:33

Graham Walters

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3 Comments

Comfortably Numb Over a year ago

If alphas don't need sorting

Phrogz Over a year ago

parseFloat does not accept a radix argument. More importantly, note that just using the - operator will cast the strings to numbers (and faster, too). In other words, just return a-b.

beebek Over a year ago

FAILS to sort if there is another integer of string type at last var data = ['88','331','11','46','4445', '200', 'a', '300']; alert(data.sort(function(a, b) { return parseFloat(a) - parseFloat(b); }) );

Tap · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-01 03:47:03Z

1

You need to write your own sort function.

a.sort(function(a,b)) {
    var intValA = parseInt(a, 10);
    var intValB = parseInt(b, 10);

    if (!isNaN(parseInt(a, 10))) && !isNaN(parseInt(b, 10)) {
        // we have two integers
        if (intValA > intValB)
            return 1;
        else if (intValA < intValB)
            return 0;
        return 1;
    }
    if (!isNaN(parseInt(a, 10)) && isNaN(parseInt(b, 10)))
        return 1;
    if (isNaN(parseInt(a, 10)) && !isNaN(parseInt(b, 10)))
        return -1;

    // a and b are not integers
    if (a > b)
        return 1;
    if (a < b)
        return -1;
    return 0;
});

edited Sep 1, 2013 at 3:47

answered Sep 1, 2013 at 3:35

Tap

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4 Comments

Comfortably Numb Over a year ago

Isn't IsNan applied after parseInt will always return false?

Phrogz Over a year ago

You can make this much less verbose with ternary operators instead of so many if statements, e.g. return a<b ? -1 : a>b ? 1 : 0

Tap Over a year ago

@Phrogz, yes, I was trying to make the return details easier to read, but you are right - it's longer than it needs to be.

soulcheck Over a year ago

also, if both are numbers you can just return the difference. If only one of them is a number then you can compare them as strings

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

0

Thanks all, though I dont know jQuery much, but from you guys examples, I summarized the code as follows which works as per my requirement

to be used in firebug

var data = ['10','2', 'apple', 'c' ,'1', '200', 'a'], temp;
temp = data.sort(function(a,b) {
         var an = +a;
         var bn = +b;
          
         if (!isNaN(an) && !isNaN(bn)) {
             return an - bn;
         } 
         return a<b ? -1 : a>b ? 1 : 0;
     }) ;
alert(temp);

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 1, 2013 at 3:59

beebek

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3 Comments

soulcheck Over a year ago

just so you now +a coerces a to integer if it can, otherwise returns NaN. employing coersion Kazuki's answer can be the shortest one:arr.sort(function(a, b) { if (isNaN(a) || isNaN(b)) { return a > b ? 1 : -1; } return a - b; });

Phrogz Over a year ago

@soulcheck +a coerces to a Number, not an "integer".

beebek Over a year ago

@Kazuki, soulcheck did some modification which meets my criteria.. Thanks

ermagana · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-01 03:30:00Z

-1

Most javascript implementations, as far as I know, provide a function you can pass in to provide your own custom sorting.

Mozilla sort Method

answered Sep 1, 2013 at 3:30

ermagana

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