In javascript sorting strings with numbers and special characters

Question

I am trying to sort the Strings with number and special characters combination.

But it is giving the wrong order.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<p>Click the button to sort the array.</p>

<button onclick="myFunction()">Try it</button>

<p id="demo"></p>

<script>
function MySort(alphabet)
{
    return function(a, b) {
        var index_a = alphabet.indexOf(a[0]),
        index_b = alphabet.indexOf(b[0]);

        if (index_a === index_b) {
            // same first character, sort regular
            if (a < b) {
                return -1;
            } else if (a > b) {
                return 1;
            }
            return 0;
        } else {
            return index_a - index_b;
        }
    }
}

function myFunction() {
  var items = ["AB_UI08","AB_UI03","AB_UI07","AB_UI04","AB_UI05","AB_UI014","AB_UI01","AB_UI09","AB_UI010","AB_UI011","AB_UI012","AB_UI013","AB_UI06","AB_UI016","AB_UI07","AB_UI018","AB_UI019","AB_UI015","AB_UI020","AB_UI02"

],
sorter = MySort('*!@_.()#^&%-=+01234567989abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz');

console.log(items.sort(sorter));
}
</script>

</body>
</html>

It is giving the below response. ["AB_UI01", "AB_UI010", "AB_UI011", "AB_UI012", "AB_UI013", "AB_UI014", "AB_UI015", "AB_UI016", "AB_UI017", "AB_UI018", "AB_UI019", "AB_UI02", "AB_UI020", "AB_UI03", "AB_UI04", "AB_UI05", "AB_UI06", "AB_UI07", "AB_UI08", "AB_UI09"]

Unsorted array: ["AB_UI08","AB_UI03","AB_UI07","AB_UI04","AB_UI05","AB_UI014","AB_UI01","AB_UI09","AB_UI010","AB_UI011","AB_UI012","AB_UI013","AB_UI06","AB_UI016","AB_UI017","AB_UI018","AB_UI019","AB_UI015","AB_UI020","AB_UI02"]

Expected output: ["AB_UI01", "AB_UI02","AB_UI03", "AB_UI04", "AB_UI05", "AB_UI06", "AB_UI07", "AB_UI08", "AB_UI09", "AB_UI010", "AB_UI011", "AB_UI012", "AB_UI013", "AB_UI014", "AB_UI015", "AB_UI016", "AB_UI17", "AB_UI018", "AB_UI019", "AB_UI020"]

Appreciating your suggestions.

@NinaScholz Edited the query with an unsorted and expected array. — Murali krishna Konduru
– Murali krishna Konduru, Commented Jan 4, 2020 at 19:32

Nina Scholz · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-04 19:33:50Z

4

If you like to sort by groups, like letters and/or digits, you could take sorting with options of String#localeCompare.

var array = ["AB_UI08","AB_UI03","AB_UI07","AB_UI04","AB_UI05","AB_UI014","AB_UI01","AB_UI09","AB_UI010","AB_UI011","AB_UI012","AB_UI013","AB_UI06","AB_UI016","AB_UI07","AB_UI018","AB_UI019","AB_UI015","AB_UI020","AB_UI02"];

console.log(array.sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b, undefined, { numeric: true, sensitivity: 'base' })));

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

edited Jan 4, 2020 at 19:33

answered Jan 4, 2020 at 10:23

Nina Scholz

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5 Comments

Murali krishna Konduru Over a year ago

Thanks for your time @NinaScholz, it helps me to solve my problem.

grodzi Over a year ago

@Nina Scholz I am interested in the numeric property but I couldn't find any spec specifying the behaviour expected for the numeric property (I mean there is the browser compatibility table on the link you provided but no "spec"). If you have any link to some w3c doc or something, that would be very appreciated!

Nina Scholz Over a year ago

it's all on the link above.

grodzi Over a year ago

nah it's just MDN.

grodzi Over a year ago

ok, opening my eyes, localeCompare to be read not in ecma-262 but ecma-402

grodzi · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-04 11:18:51Z

1

Given the fact that your word (e.g AB_UI08) seem to be like {letters}{digits} where letters are not digits and digits of the form [0-9]+.

That is: letters==AB_UI and d==08.

Assuming that you want to first sort by letters, then by number.

You can map your words to letters and digits, then in order to compare two words, compare their number iff their letters part are equal.

function toObj(w) {
  const letters = w.match(/^[^\d]+/)[0]
  return { w, letters, d: parseInt(w.replace(letters,'')) }
}

const items = ["AB_UI08","AB_UI03","AB_UI07","AB_UI04","AB_UI05","AB_UI014","AB_UI01","AB_UI09","AB_UI010","AB_UI011","AB_UI012","AB_UI013","AB_UI06","AB_UI016","AB_UI07","AB_UI018","AB_UI019","AB_UI015","AB_UI020","AB_UI02"]

const sorted = items.map(toObj).sort((a,b) => {
  const res = a.letters.localeCompare(b.letters)
  return res !== 0 ? res : a.d - b.d
}).map(x => x.w)

console.log('sorted', sorted)

answered Jan 4, 2020 at 11:18

grodzi

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2 Comments

Murali krishna Konduru Over a year ago

Great! thanks for the solution, It is working as per my requirement.

grodzi Over a year ago

@MuralikrishnaKonduru I appreciate you accepting my answer, but the localeCompare as proposed by Nina Scholz may be better (shorter and uses existing api). cheers either way!

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