How to sort array of dates in ascending order in Objective-C?

Question

I have an NSMutableArray that contains dates in a string format. Here I need to sort that array in ascending order of dates. I used:

NSSortDescriptor *descriptor=[[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"self" ascending:YES];
NSArray *descriptors=[NSArray arrayWithObject: descriptor];
NSArray *reverseOrder=[dateArray sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:descriptors];

But it only sort the dates in terms of ascending order of day and month. Year is not considered.

For example, Array contains

03/09/2017, 03/06/2016, 01/06/2016,01/04/2016 and 03/01/2017.

After using the above lines of code, Array contains like,

01/04/2018, 01/06/2016, 03/01/2017, 03/06/2016, 03/09/2016

you date format mm/dd or dd/mm

Bhadresh Kathiriya
– Bhadresh Kathiriya

2016-09-03 08:49:44 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 8:49 — Bhadresh Kathiriya
– Bhadresh Kathiriya, Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 8:49

HangarRash · Accepted Answer · 2025-10-20 22:53:42Z

8

You need to use sortedArrayUsingComparator to sort date with String array.

NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[df setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy"];
NSArray *sortedArray = [yourArray sortedArrayUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(NSString *obj1, NSString *obj2) {
    NSDate *d1 = [df dateFromString: obj1];
    NSDate *d2 = [df dateFromString: obj2];
    return [d1 compare: d2];
}];

Note : Set format of date according to your date. It is hard to predict the date format from your example. That's why I have used MM/dd/yyyy, if your date is in the format dd/MM/yyyy then use that.

edited Oct 20 at 22:53

HangarRash

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answered Sep 3, 2016 at 8:50

Nirav D

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4 Comments

Hilaj S L Over a year ago

Sorry i have already use this code, but still i don't get the correct solution

Hilaj S L Over a year ago

Thanks for your response.

Nirav D Over a year ago

Can you give me the formate of date means it is dd/MM or MM/dd?

Hilaj S L Over a year ago

sorry it's my fault. And your answer is correct. Thank you very much

Bhadresh Kathiriya · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-03 08:53:15Z

your code is correct but date format wrong.

try this code:

NSMutableArray *dateArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithArray: @[@"03/09/2017", @"03/06/2016", @"01/06/2016",@"01/04/2016", @"03/01/2017"]];
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
NSDate *date;
for (int i = 0; i < dateArray.count; i++) {
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy"];  // Please your date format set.
    date = [formatter dateFromString:[dateArray objectAtIndex:i]];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy/MM/dd"];
    [dateArray replaceObjectAtIndex:i withObject:[formatter stringFromDate:date]];
}
NSSortDescriptor *descriptor=[[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"self" ascending:YES];
NSArray *descriptors=[NSArray arrayWithObject: descriptor];
NSArray *reverseOrder=[dateArray sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:descriptors];

NSLog(@"Array: %@",reverseOrder);

BSB · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-03 09:24:45Z

Please try below code:

NSArray *strDateArray = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"03/09/2017",@"03/06/2016", @"01/06/2016",@"01/04/2016",@"03/01/2017", nil];

    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy"];

    NSMutableArray *dateArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    for (NSString *dateString in strDateArray) {
        NSDate *date = [formatter dateFromString:dateString];
        [dateArray addObject:date];
    }

    // sort array of dates
    [dateArray sortUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(NSDate *date1, NSDate *date2) {
        // return date1 compare date2 for ascending. And reverse the call for ascending.
        return [date1 compare:date2];
    }];

    NSLog(@"dateArray %@", dateArray);
    NSMutableArray *sortedDateArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];

    for (NSDate *date in dateArray) {
        NSString *dateString = [formatter stringFromDate:date];
        [sortedDateArray addObject:dateString];
    }

    NSLog(@"sortedDateArray %@", sortedDateArray);

Mehsam Saeed · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-02 13:56:52Z

0

For Swift 4.0

let formater = DateFormatter()
    formater.dateFormat = "MM/dd/yyyy" //date formate should be according to your date formate
    let sortedArray=arrayToSort.sorted(){
        (obj1, obj2) in
        let date1=formater.date(from: obj1)
        let date2=formater.date(from: obj2)
        return date1!<date2!
    }

edited Oct 2, 2018 at 13:56

answered Oct 2, 2018 at 12:10

Mehsam Saeed

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Comments

gehbiszumeis · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-09 08:44:28Z

-1

//You can change the date format according to your code

NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
                      [df setDateFormat:@"MM/dd/yyyy"];

NSArray *sortedArray = [YourArraysortedArrayUsingComparator:^NSComparisonResult(NSDictionary *obj1, NSDictionary *obj2)
{
    NSString *strDateObj1  = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[obj1 valueForKey:@"BirthDate"]];
    NSString *strDateObj2  = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[obj2 valueForKey:@"BirthDate"]];
    NSDate *d1 = [df dateFromString: strDateObj1];
    NSDate *d2 = [df dateFromString: strDateObj2];
    return [d1 compare: d2];
}];

NSLog(@"%@", sortedArray)

edited Jan 9, 2019 at 8:44

gehbiszumeis

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answered Jan 9, 2019 at 7:18

Sachin Daingade

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