Javascript sort array function performance

Question

Does anyone know how the built-in JS function array.sort() functions internally? I mean does it change strings to numbers....etc

var keys = new Array();
keys.sort();

The algorithm is specified here. Apart from that I'm not sure what else you want to know. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Nov 8, 2011 at 20:25
To answer the question: No, .sort will not change any element values, unless you specify a function which modifies the input. eg: keys.sort(function(x,y){x.moo=1337; y.cowsay="bar";}) — Rob W
– Rob W, Commented Nov 8, 2011 at 20:30

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:30:56Z

7

From the MDN docs for sort():

If compareFunction is not supplied, elements are sorted by converting them to strings and comparing strings in lexicographic ("dictionary" or "telephone book," not numerical) order. For example, "80" comes before "9" in lexicographic order, but in a numeric sort 9 comes before 80.

Refer to the answers of this question as to what algorithm is being used.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 8, 2011 at 20:29

Daff

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1 Comment

Milan Babuškov Over a year ago

+1. Reading this just saved me from some hard to track bugs later in production. Too bad one can only favorite the question, and not the answers.

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