Sort Array of Nested Objects by Dynamic Key

Question

I believe I'm wording this question correctly.... I have a dataset like this...

[
  {
    "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      "bill": "Test 2",
      "account": "defaultAccount",
      "amount": 40,
      "category": "defaultCategory",
      "description": "231"
    }
  },
  {
    "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      "bill": "Test 2",
      "account": "defaultAccount",
      "amount": 40,
      "category": "defaultCategory",
      "description": "231"
    }
  },
  {
    "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      "bill": "test",
      "account": "create-account",
      "amount": 40,
      "category": "mortgage",
      "description": "23"
    }
  }, ....
]

and I'm struggling to sort the array based on the object's dynamic date. I've spent the last few hours going through every version of this question on stack overflow and I'm not coming up with a solution... any advice is greatly appreciated!

why have you kept date as key

Helping hand
– Helping hand

2018-08-07 20:58:02 +00:00
Commented Aug 7, 2018 at 20:58 — Helping hand
– Helping hand, Commented Aug 7, 2018 at 20:58

Nina Scholz · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 20:58:51Z

4

You need to get the key of each outer object and get a date object. Then take the delta for sorting.

var array = [{ "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "Test 2", account: "defaultAccount", amount: 40, category: "defaultCategory", description: "231" } }, { "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "Test 2", account: "defaultAccount", amount: 40, category: "defaultCategory", description: "231" } }, { "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "test", account: "create-account", amount: 40, category: "mortgage", description: "23" } }];

array.sort((a, b) => new Date(Object.keys(a)[0]) - new Date(Object.keys(b)[0]));

console.log(array);

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 20:58

Nina Scholz

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2 Comments

Ehutch Over a year ago

That's it! Thank you so much!

Akrion Over a year ago

Since lodash is allowed (question is tagged with it) it seems you could just do _.sortBy(array, (x) => new Date(_.head(_.keys(x))))

Arup Rakshit · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 21:12:04Z

1

I will do like below using sortBy function:

import _ from "lodash";

var array = [
  {
    "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      bill: "Test 2",
      account: "defaultAccount",
      amount: 40,
      category: "defaultCategory",
      description: "231"
    }
  },
  {
    "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      bill: "Test 2",
      account: "defaultAccount",
      amount: 40,
      category: "defaultCategory",
      description: "231"
    }
  },
  {
    "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": {
      bill: "test",
      account: "create-account",
      amount: 40,
      category: "mortgage",
      description: "23"
    }
  }
];

const result = _.sortBy(array, [
  function(o) {
    return new Date(Object.keys(o)[0]);
  }
]);

console.log(result);

Codesanbox link.

edited Aug 7, 2018 at 21:12

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 20:59

Arup Rakshit

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Comments

Raphael Facredyn · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 21:27:46Z

1

Try formatting your objects a little differently, like this:

[{
    "createdon": "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "Test 2",
    "account": "defaultAccount",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "defaultCategory",
    "description": "231"
  },
  {
    "createdon": "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "Test 2",
    "account": "defaultAccount",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "defaultCategory",
    "description": "231"

  },
  {
    "createdon": "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "test",
    "account": "create-account",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "mortgage",
    "description": "23"
  }
]

This is more logical because the index in the array is already the key which identifies each object so you don't need to use the date as a key.

Here is a complete example:

var data = [{
    "createdon": "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "Test 2",
    "account": "defaultAccount",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "defaultCategory",
    "description": "231"
  },
  {
    "createdon": "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "Test 2",
    "account": "defaultAccount",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "defaultCategory",
    "description": "231"

  },
  {
    "createdon": "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500",
    "bill": "test",
    "account": "create-account",
    "amount": 40,
    "category": "mortgage",
    "description": "23"
  }
]

result = _.sortBy(data, [
  function(o) {
    return new Date(o.createdon);
  }
])

Even though the other answers work, this method should result in cleaner, clearer and more maintainable code which is also a very important part of programming.

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 21:27

Raphael Facredyn

1868 bronze badges

2 Comments

Ehutch Over a year ago

I went ahead and reformatted it the way you suggested to hopefully avoid any future hiccups. Thanks!

Raphael Facredyn Over a year ago

Do you understand why though? That is even more important.

Akrion · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-23 02:54:40Z

This is one way to do it in a very concise way using lodash sortBy / head / keys:

var array = [{ "Fri Aug 03 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "Test 2", account: "defaultAccount", amount: 40, category: "defaultCategory", description: "231" } }, { "Fri Aug 17 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "Test 2", account: "defaultAccount", amount: 40, category: "defaultCategory", description: "231" } }, { "Wed Aug 01 2018 00:00:00 GMT-0500": { bill: "test", account: "create-account", amount: 40, category: "mortgage", description: "23" } } ];

console.log(_.sortBy(array, (x) => new Date(_.head(_.keys(x)))));

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.10/lodash.min.js"></script>

I personally think since lodash is allowed in this question this is cleaner one liner solution.

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