How to sort 2 dimensional array by column value

Question

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

User · Answer

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;
    }
  }
}

User · Answer

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  lt  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  lt  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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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  lt  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

User · Answer

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   lt  b colIndex     -1   1                       return a     var sorted a   sortByColumn a  2

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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   lt  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   lt  b 1     -1   1

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

Using the arrow function  and sorting by the second string field   x000D   x000D  var a     12   CCC     58   AAA     57   DDD     28   CCC    18   BBB     x000D  a sort  a  b    gt  a 1  localeCompare b 1     x000D  console log a  x000D   x000D   x000D

User · Answer

in one line   var cars        type  Volvo   year 2016      type  Saab   year 2001      type  BMW   year 2010      function myFunction       return cars sort  a  b   gt  a year - b year

[javascript] How to sort 2 dimensional array by column value?

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