Can any one help me sort a 2 dimensional Array in JavaScript?
It will have data in the following format:
[12, AAA]
[58, BBB]
[28, CCC]
[18, DDD]
It should look like this when sorted:
[12, AAA]
[18, DDD]
[28, CCC]
[58, BBB]
So basically, sorting by the first column.
Cheers
This question is related to
javascript
arrays
sorting
multidimensional-array
Standing on the shoulders of charles-clayton and @vikas-gautam, I added the string test which is needed if a column has strings as in OP.
return isNaN(a-b) ? (a === b) ? 0 : (a < b) ? -1 : 1 : a-b ;
The test isNaN(a-b) determines if the strings cannot be coerced to numbers. If they can then the a-b test is valid.
Note that sorting a column of mixed types will always give an entertaining result as the strict equality test (a === b) will always return false.
See MDN here
This is the full script with Logger test - using Google Apps Script.
function testSort(){
function sortByCol(arr, colIndex){
arr.sort(sortFunction);
function sortFunction(a, b) {
a = a[colIndex];
b = b[colIndex];
return isNaN(a-b) ? (a === b) ? 0 : (a < b) ? -1 : 1 : a-b ; // test if text string - ie cannot be coerced to numbers.
// Note that sorting a column of mixed types will always give an entertaining result as the strict equality test will always return false
// see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Equality_comparisons_and_sameness
}
}
// Usage
var a = [ [12,'12', 'AAA'],
[12,'11', 'AAB'],
[58,'120', 'CCC'],
[28,'08', 'BBB'],
[18,'80', 'DDD'],
]
var arr1 = a.map(function (i){return i;}).sort(); // use map to ensure tests are not corrupted by a sort in-place.
Logger.log("Original unsorted:\n " + JSON.stringify(a));
Logger.log("Vanilla sort:\n " + JSON.stringify(arr1));
sortByCol(a, 0);
Logger.log("By col 0:\n " + JSON.stringify(a));
sortByCol(a, 1);
Logger.log("By col 1:\n " + JSON.stringify(a));
sortByCol(a, 2);
Logger.log("By col 2:\n " + JSON.stringify(a));
/* vanilla sort returns " [
[12,"11","AAB"],
[12,"12","AAA"],
[18,"80","DDD"],
[28,"08","BBB"],
[58,"120","CCC"]
]
if col 0 then returns "[
[12,'12',"AAA"],
[12,'11', 'AAB'],
[18,'80',"DDD"],
[28,'08',"BBB"],
[58,'120',"CCC"]
]"
if col 1 then returns "[
[28,'08',"BBB"],
[12,'11', 'AAB'],
[12,'12',"AAA"],
[18,'80',"DDD"],
[58,'120',"CCC"],
]"
if col 2 then returns "[
[12,'12',"AAA"],
[12,'11', 'AAB'],
[28,'08',"BBB"],
[58,'120',"CCC"],
[18,'80',"DDD"],
]"
*/
}
It's this simple:
var a = [[12, 'AAA'], [58, 'BBB'], [28, 'CCC'],[18, 'DDD']];
a.sort(sortFunction);
function sortFunction(a, b) {
if (a[0] === b[0]) {
return 0;
}
else {
return (a[0] < b[0]) ? -1 : 1;
}
}
I invite you to read the documentation.
If you want to sort by the second column, you can do this:
a.sort(compareSecondColumn);
function compareSecondColumn(a, b) {
if (a[1] === b[1]) {
return 0;
}
else {
return (a[1] < b[1]) ? -1 : 1;
}
}
try this
//WITH FIRST COLUMN
arr = arr.sort(function(a,b) {
return a[0] - b[0];
});
//WITH SECOND COLUMN
arr = arr.sort(function(a,b) {
return a[1] - b[1];
});
Note: Original answer used a greater than (>) instead of minus (-) which is what the comments are referring to as incorrect.
in one line:
var cars = [
{type:"Volvo", year:2016},
{type:"Saab", year:2001},
{type:"BMW", year:2010}
]
function myFunction() {
return cars.sort((a, b)=> a.year - b.year)
}
The best approach would be to use the following, as there may be repetitive values in the first column.
var arr = [[12, 'AAA'], [12, 'BBB'], [12, 'CCC'],[28, 'DDD'], [18, 'CCC'],[12, 'DDD'],[18, 'CCC'],[28, 'DDD'],[28, 'DDD'],[58, 'BBB'],[68, 'BBB'],[78, 'BBB']];
arr.sort(function(a,b) {
return a[0]-b[0]
});
As my usecase involves dozens of columns, I expanded @jahroy's answer a bit. (also just realized @charles-clayton had the same idea.)
I pass the parameter I want to sort by, and the sort function is redefined with the desired index for the comparison to take place on.
var ID_COLUMN=0
var URL_COLUMN=1
findings.sort(compareByColumnIndex(URL_COLUMN))
function compareByColumnIndex(index) {
return function(a,b){
if (a[index] === b[index]) {
return 0;
}
else {
return (a[index] < b[index]) ? -1 : 1;
}
}
}
If you want to sort based on first column (which contains number value), then try this:
arr.sort(function(a,b){
return a[0]-b[0]
})
If you want to sort based on second column (which contains string value), then try this:
arr.sort(function(a,b){
return a[1].charCodeAt(0)-b[1].charCodeAt(0)
})
P.S. for the second case, you need to compare between their ASCII values.
Hope this helps.
Using the arrow function, and sorting by the second string field
var a = [[12, 'CCC'], [58, 'AAA'], [57, 'DDD'], [28, 'CCC'],[18, 'BBB']];_x000D_
a.sort((a, b) => a[1].localeCompare(b[1]));_x000D_
console.log(a)Nothing special, just saving the cost it takes to return a value at certain index from an array.
function sortByCol(arr, colIndex){
arr.sort(sortFunction)
function sortFunction(a, b) {
a = a[colIndex]
b = b[colIndex]
return (a === b) ? 0 : (a < b) ? -1 : 1
}
}
// Usage
var a = [[12, 'AAA'], [58, 'BBB'], [28, 'CCC'],[18, 'DDD']]
sortByCol(a, 0)
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
// "[[12,"AAA"],[18,"DDD"],[28,"CCC"],[58,"BBB"]]"
If you're anything like me, you won't want to go through changing each index every time you want to change the column you're sorting by.
function sortByColumn(a, colIndex){
a.sort(sortFunction);
function sortFunction(a, b) {
if (a[colIndex] === b[colIndex]) {
return 0;
}
else {
return (a[colIndex] < b[colIndex]) ? -1 : 1;
}
}
return a;
}
var sorted_a = sortByColumn(a, 2);
Source: Stackoverflow.com