Arranging items of a List

Question

I have an Unordered List with me

<ul class="uol">
      <li>beta</li>
      <li>gamma</li>
      <li>alpha</li>
</ul>

One of my co-workers (on a long leave) wrote some code that sorts this list.

$(".uol li").sort(asc).appendTo('.uol');

function asc(a, b){
  return ($(b).text()) < ($(a).text());    
}


function desc(a, b){
  return ($(b).text()) > ($(a).text());    
}

(fiddle)

I am unable to understand what does the code do, especially this line:

$(".uol li").sort(asc).appendTo('.uol');

Can anyone please explain this? Also, is this the best way to sort the UOL or is there a better way you know of?

That is probably the best way. That line selects the list items, sorts them using the named asc function, and then appends them to the ul. — Kevin B, Nov 06 '12 at 15:02
You could move away from using the undocumented .sort method to instead use the one on Array, however that will make the code less readable. — Kevin B, Nov 06 '12 at 15:04
I just wrote a detailed explanation of the `sort()` function for another answer. [You can read it here if you want a deep explanation.](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3423394/algorithm-of-javascript-sort-function/13171179#13171179) — Aust, Nov 06 '12 at 15:05
@Aust, looks like a real detailed one. I will go through it later during the day — Tom Hodder, Nov 06 '12 at 15:11
Ah, sorry. here you go, less readable, but uses documented methods. `$( $.makeArray($(".uol li")).sort(asc) ).appendTo(".uol");` — Kevin B, Nov 06 '12 at 15:13
Thanks Kevin B for your answer. Always good to know multiple ways to approach a problem. Can you also look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13254102/adding-filters-to-list — Tom Hodder, Nov 06 '12 at 15:23

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 06 '12 at 15:03

2

$(".uol li") this gives the all the li items within the .uol class. .sort(asc) does the sorting in ascending order. .appendTo('.uol') . Appends the result into .uol class container.

answered Nov 06 '12 at 15:03

kjana83

398
3
16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 06 '12 at 15:07

.sort() is a javascript function that sorts an array, using the sorting function you pass it.

the function he chose to pass, checks between two adjacent values which one's text has a lower ascii value. the sorter will continue to run this function between every two adjacent values in the array until it is sorted.

Arranging items of a List

2 Answers2