[javascript] Disable sorting for a particular column in jQuery DataTables

I am using the jQuery DataTables plugin to sort the table fields. My question is: how do I disable sorting for a particular column? I have tried with the following code, but it did not work:

"aoColumns": [
  { "bSearchable": false },
  null
]   

I have also tried the following code:

"aoColumnDefs": [
  {
    "bSearchable": false,
    "aTargets": [ 1 ]
  }
]

but this still did not produce the desired results.

Here is what you can use to disable certain column to be disabled:

 $('#tableId').dataTable({           
            "columns": [
                { "data": "id"},
                { "data": "sampleSortableColumn" },
                { "data": "otherSortableColumn" },
                { "data": "unsortableColumn", "orderable": false}
           ]
});

So all you have to do is add the "orderable": false to the column you don't want to be sortable.

you can also use negative index like this:

$('.datatable').dataTable({
    "sDom": "<'row-fluid'<'span6'l><'span6'f>r>t<'row-fluid'<'span6'i><'span6'p>>",
    "sPaginationType": "bootstrap",
    "aoColumnDefs": [
        { 'bSortable': false, 'aTargets': [ -1 ] }
    ]
});

To make a first column sorting disable, try with the below code in datatables jquery. The null represents the sorting enable here.

$('#example').dataTable( {
  "aoColumns": [
  { "bSortable": false },
  null,
  null,
  null
  ]
} );

Disable Sorting on a Column in jQuery Datatables

"aoColumnDefs" : [   
{
  'bSortable' : false,  
  'aTargets' : [ 0 ]
}]

Here 0 is the index of the column, if you want multiple columns to be not sorted, mention column index values seperated by comma(,)

The code will look like this:

$(".data-cash").each(function (index) {
  $(this).dataTable({
    "sDom": "<'row-fluid'<'span6'l><'span6'f>r>t<'row-fluid'<'span6'i><'span6'p>>",
    "sPaginationType": "bootstrap",
    "oLanguage": {
      "sLengthMenu": "_MENU_ records per page",
      "oPaginate": {
        "sPrevious": "Prev",
        "sNext": "Next"
      }
    },
    "bSort": false,
    "aaSorting": []
  });
});

If you already have to hide Some columns, like I hide last name column. I just had to concatenate fname , lname , So i made query but hide that column from front end. The modifications in Disable sorting in such situation are :

    "aoColumnDefs": [
        { 'bSortable': false, 'aTargets': [ 3 ] },
        {
            "targets": [ 4 ],
            "visible": false,
            "searchable": true
        }
    ],

Notice that I had Hiding functionality here

    "columnDefs": [
            {
                "targets": [ 4 ],
                "visible": false,
                "searchable": true
            }
        ],

Then I merged it into "aoColumnDefs"

As of 1.10.5, simply include

'orderable: false'

in columnDefs and target your column with

'targets: [0,1]'

Table should like like:

var table = $('#data-tables').DataTable({
    columnDefs: [{
        targets: [0],
        orderable: false
    }]
});

$("#example").dataTable(
  {
    "aoColumnDefs": [{
      "bSortable": false, 
      "aTargets": [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
    }]
  }
);

There are two ways, one is defined in html when you define table headers

<thead>
  <th data-orderable="false"></th>
</thead>

Another way is using javascript, for example, you have table

<table id="datatables">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th class="testid input">test id</th>
            <th class="testname input">test name</th>
    </thead>
</table>

then,

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#datatables').DataTable( {
        "columnDefs": [ {
            "targets": [ 0], // 0 indicates the first column you define in <thead>
            "searchable": false
        }
        , {
            // you can also use name to get the target column
            "targets": 'testid', // name is the class you define in <th>
            "searchable": false
        }
        ]
    }
    );
}
);

To update Bhavish's answer (which I think is for an older version of DataTables and didn't work for me). I think they changed the attribute name. Try this:

<thead>
    <tr>
        <td data-sortable="false">Requirements</td>
        <td data-sortable="false">Automated</td>
        <td>Created On</td>
    </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
    <tr>
        <td>

columnDefs now accepts a class. I'd say this is the preferred method if you'd like to specify columns to disable in your markup:

<table>
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>ID</th>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th class="datatable-nosort">Actions</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    ...
</table>

Then, in your JS:

$("table").DataTable({
    columnDefs: [{
        targets: "datatable-nosort",
        orderable: false
    }]
});

1. Use the following code to disable ordering on first column:

   $('#example').dataTable( {
     "columnDefs": [
       { "orderable": false, "targets": 0 }
     ]
   } );
   

2. To disable default ordering, you can also use:

   $('#example').dataTable( {
        "ordering": false, 
   } );
   

Using class:

<table  class="table table-datatable table-bordered" id="tableID">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th class="nosort"><input type="checkbox" id="checkAllreInvitation" /></th>
            <th class="sort-alpha">Employee name</th>
            <th class="sort-alpha">Send Date</th>
            <th class="sort-alpha">Sender</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="userUid[]" value="{user.uid}" id="checkAllreInvitation" class="checkItemre validate[required]" /></td>
            <td>Alexander Schwartz</td>
            <td>27.12.2015</td>
            <td>[email protected]</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $('#tableID').DataTable({
            'iDisplayLength':100,
            "aaSorting": [[ 0, "asc" ]],
            'aoColumnDefs': [{
                'bSortable': false,
                'aTargets': ['nosort']
            }]
        });
    });
</script>

Now you can give "nosort" class to <TH>

What I use is just add a custom attribute in thead td and control sorting by checking that attr value automatically.

So the HTML code will be

<table class="datatables" cellspacing="0px" >

    <thead>
        <tr>
            <td data-bSortable="true">Requirements</td>
            <td>Test Cases</td>
            <td data-bSortable="true">Automated</td>
            <td>Created On</td>
            <td>Automated Status</td>
            <td>Tags</td>
            <td>Action</td>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>

And JavaScript for initializing datatables will be (it will dynamically get the sorting information from table iteself ;)

$('.datatables').each(function(){
    var bFilter = true;
    if($(this).hasClass('nofilter')){
        bFilter = false;
    }
    var columnSort = new Array; 
    $(this).find('thead tr td').each(function(){
        if($(this).attr('data-bSortable') == 'true') {
            columnSort.push({ "bSortable": true });
        } else {
            columnSort.push({ "bSortable": false });
        }
    });
    $(this).dataTable({
        "sPaginationType": "full_numbers",
        "bFilter": bFilter,
        "fnDrawCallback": function( oSettings ) {
        },
        "aoColumns": columnSort
    });
});

Here is the answer !

targets is the column number, it starts from 0

$('#example').dataTable( {
  "columnDefs": [
    { "orderable": false, "targets": 0 }
  ]
} );

As of DataTables 1.10.5 it is now possible to define initialisation options using HTML5 data-* attributes.

-from DataTables example - HTML5 data-* attributes - table options

So you can use data-orderable="false" on the th of the column you don't want to be sortable. For example, the second column "Avatar" in the table below will not be sortable:

<table id="example" class="display" width="100%" data-page-length="25">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th data-orderable="false">Avatar</th>
            <th>Start date</th>
            <th>Salary</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>Tiger Nixon</td>
            <td><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/8edcff60cdcca2ad650758fa524d4990?s=64&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=PG" alt="" style="width: 64px; height: 64px; visibility: visible;"></td>
            <td>2011/04/25</td>
            <td>$320,800</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Garrett Winters</td>
            <td><img src="https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/98fe9834dcca2ad650758fa524d4990?s=64&amp;d=identicon&amp;r=PG" alt="" style="width: 64px; height: 64px; visibility: visible;"></td>
            <td>2011/07/25</td>
            <td>$170,750</td>
        </tr>
        ...[ETC]...
    </tbody>
</table>

See a working example at https://jsfiddle.net/jhfrench/6yxvxt7L/.

This is what you're looking for:

$('#example').dataTable( {
      "aoColumnDefs": [
          { 'bSortable': false, 'aTargets': [ 1 ] }
       ]
});

Using Datatables 1.9.4 I've disabled the sorting for the first column with this code:

/* Table initialisation */
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#rules').dataTable({
        "sDom" : "<'row'<'span6'l><'span6'f>r>t<'row'<'span6'i><'span6'p>>",
        "sPaginationType" : "bootstrap",
        "oLanguage" : {
            "sLengthMenu" : "_MENU_ records per page"
        },
        // Disable sorting on the first column
        "aoColumnDefs" : [ {
            'bSortable' : false,
            'aTargets' : [ 0 ]
        } ]
    });
});

EDIT:

You can disable even by using the no-sort class on your <th>,

and use this initialization code:

// Disable sorting on the no-sort class
"aoColumnDefs" : [ {
    "bSortable" : false,
    "aTargets" : [ "no-sort" ]
} ]

EDIT 2

In this example I'm using Datables with Bootstrap, following an old blog post. Now there is one link with updated material about styling Datatables with bootstrap.

set class "no-sort" in th of the table then add css .no-sort { pointer-events: none !important; cursor: default !important;background-image: none !important; } by this it will hide the arrow updown and disble event in the head.

If you set the FIRST column orderable property to false, you must also set the default order column otherwise it won't work since first column is the default ordering column. Example below disables sorting on first column but sets second column as default order column (remember dataTables' indexes are zero based).

$('#example').dataTable( {
  "order": [[1, 'asc']],
  "columnDefs": [
    { "orderable": false, "targets": 0 }
  ]
} );

This works for me for a single column

 $('#example').dataTable( {
"aoColumns": [
{ "bSortable": false 
 }]});

You can directry use .notsortable() method on column

 vm.dtOpt_product = DTOptionsBuilder.newOptions()
                .withOption('responsive', true)
        vm.dtOpt_product.withPaginationType('full_numbers');
        vm.dtOpt_product.withColumnFilter({
            aoColumns: [{
                    type: 'null'
                }, {
                    type: 'text',
                    bRegex: true,
                    bSmart: true
                }, {
                    type: 'text',
                    bRegex: true,
                    bSmart: true
                }, {
                    type: 'text',
                    bRegex: true,
                    bSmart: true
                }, {
                    type: 'select',
                    bRegex: false,
                    bSmart: true,
                    values: vm.dtProductTypes
                }]

        });

        vm.dtColDefs_product = [
            DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(0), DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(1),
            DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(2), DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(3).withClass('none'),
            DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(4), DTColumnDefBuilder.newColumnDef(5).notSortable()
        ];

For Single column sorting disable try this example :

<script type="text/javascript">                         
    $(document).ready(function() 
    {
        $("#example").dataTable({
           "aoColumnDefs": [
              { 'bSortable': false, 'aTargets': [ 0 ] }
           ]
        });
    });                                         
</script>

For Multiple columns try this example: you just need to add column number. By default it's starting from 0

<script type="text/javascript">                         
    $(document).ready(function() 
    {
        $("#example").dataTable({
           "aoColumnDefs": [
              { 'bSortable': false, 'aTargets': [ 0,1,2,4,5,6] }
           ]
        });
    });                                         
</script>  

Here only Column 3 works