Sorting objects in an array

Question

Ok I got an array of objects in an array. Well they are actually associative arrays. So its actually an array of associative arrays.

console log outputs something like this:

[array object] [object{...},object{...},object{...}, etc...]

Each object has a name, price and color. What I want is to sort them into alphabetical order and ascending or descending in price.

I've got a jQuery code that will put them onto the page, but I need to insert a bit of code that will put them in the order I choose. Any ideas?

there's no such thing as "associative array" in javascript: that is an array of objects. You need to write your custom sort function developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/… (scroll about half page) — Lorenzo Marcon
– Lorenzo Marcon, Commented Sep 20, 2014 at 16:52
There is no such build-in method for array sorting in JS until you write an algorithm by yourself, instead you can use LINQ and do arrayObject.orderBy(x => x), try linqjs.codeplex.com — foo-baar
– foo-baar, Commented Sep 20, 2014 at 17:06
@VishalSachdeva: Of course there is: Array#sort. All you have to provide is the comparator, not the sorting algorithm. — T.J. Crowder
– T.J. Crowder, Commented Sep 20, 2014 at 17:41

dreyescat · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-20 22:07:04Z

3

You can use the javascript array sort method that accepts a compare function as parameter.

var a = [{name: 'a', price: 1, color: 'red'},
{name: 'b', price: 2, color: 'red'},
{name: 'c', price: 3, color: 'blue'}];
// Ascending order
a.sort(function (a, b) {
    return a.price - b.price;
});
// Descending order
a.sort(function (a, b) {
    return b.price - a.price;
});

EDIT: If you need to sort first by name in ascending order and then by price in ascending or descending order then:

// Sort by name in ascending order first and then by price in ascending order
a.sort(function (a, b) {
    return a.name.localeCompare(b.name) || a.price - b.price;
});
// Sort by name in ascending order first and then by price in descending order
a.sort(function (a, b) {
    return a.name.localeCompare(b.name) || b.price - a.price;
});

edited Sep 20, 2014 at 22:07

answered Sep 20, 2014 at 17:07

dreyescat

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2 Comments

dreyescat Over a year ago

@T.J.Crowder Didn't see the name first sorting. Fixed.

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

I've never seen it done with || like that before, clever! I know the special way JavaScript's || works, I just never thought to apply it to this.

T.J. Crowder · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-20 17:59:12Z

You can use Array#sort to sort arrays. It accepts a comparator callback function (a function the sort algorithm can use to compare two entries to see which should come first) and sorts the array in place (e.g., it doesn't make a copy of the array). The contract is: The comparator gets called with two entries, and returns <0 if the first should come before the second, 0 if they're equal, and >0 if the first should come after the second:

yourArray.sort(function(a, b) {
    // return <0 if a is less than b
    //         0 if a is equal to b
    //        >0 if a is greater than b
});

You can use String#localeCompare to compare the names alphabetically; it conveniently returns <0, 0, or >0. If the comparison of the names doesn't return 0, return what it did return; if the comparison of names returns 0, return a.price - b.price.

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