Sorting multi dimensional array by 2 columns - JavaScript

Question

I have a 2 dimensional array with different elements in it. I want to sort the array based on 2 different criteria. One being a string and the other an integer. Here is an example.

var arr = [
    ['ABC', 87, 'WHAT'], 
    ['ABC', 34, 'ARE'], 
    ['DEF', 13, 'YOU'], 
    ['ABC', 18, 'DOING'], 
    ['ABC', 34, 'DOING'],
    ['DEF', 24, 'TODAY']
];

I want to sort first by the first element and then by the second element.

possible duplicate of Javascript, how do you sort an array on multiple columns? — James Montagne
– James Montagne, Commented Mar 10, 2015 at 16:39
possible duplicate of Javascript: Sort Multidimensional Array — Pete
– Pete, Commented Mar 11, 2015 at 2:11

robbmj · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-21 19:46:13Z

5

It is fairly straight forward:

If the strings are equal, then break the tie by comparing the integer values, else return the result of localeCompare

var arr = [
  ['ABC', 87, 'WHAT'],
  ['ABC', 34, 'ARE'],
  ['DEF', 13, 'YOU'],
  ['ABC', 18, 'DOING'],
  ['ABC', 34, 'DOING'],
  ['DEF', 24, 'TODAY'],
  ['ABA', 18, 'TODAY'],
  ['ABA', 11, 'TODAY']
];

function doSort(ascending) {
    ascending = typeof ascending == 'undefined' || ascending == true;
    return function(a, b) {
       var ret = a[0].localeCompare(b[0]) || a[1] - b[1];
       return ascending ? ret : -ret;
    };
}

// sort ascending
arr.sort(doSort());
// sort descending
arr.sort(doSort(false));

Fiddle

edited Mar 21, 2015 at 19:46

answered Mar 10, 2015 at 17:03

robbmj

16.6k8 gold badges41 silver badges63 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

DiD Over a year ago

Is there no other way to solve this without using the JSON stringify? My program doesn't use JSON

robbmj Over a year ago

@DiD JSON.stringify is only being used to display the sorted output, you can ignore it. The doSort function and arr.sort(doSort()); call are all you really need.

robbmj Over a year ago

@DiD I made it a little easier for you. The only code you need is now all the code that is in the answer. But you can still check out the demo by clicking the link titled Fiddle.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Sorting multi dimensional array by 2 columns - JavaScript

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related