sorting strings ending with numbers, by the ending number

Question

I have an array of values like:

item1, item3, item2, item4, item5, item8, item6, item9, item10, item7, item11

When i sort them in javascript using .sort() i get the below result:

item1, item10, item11, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6, item7, item8, item9

I know this is because the items are strings and this what sort() is designed to do, but how can i sort them into the following?

item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6, item7, item8, item9, item10, item11

thanks,

yes, but it's possible that the items could be in the hundreds, or more, so having a prefix of 0 isn't a full-proof way — Sam Jones, Oct 01 '13 at 14:10

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:13

6

You can define your own .sort callback. In fact you need to do so to sort numbers. Your case is a bit different, though.

.sort(function (a, b) {
    return (+a.replace("item", "")) - (+b.replace("item", ""));
});

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/Hbs8g/

In case item is not consistent, you can get the number part via .split(/(\d+)/)[1] assuming that the word part does not contain any numbers: http://jsfiddle.net/Hbs8g/1/

answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:13

Explosion Pills

188,624
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thanks, nice and simple, wish i'd thought of it :p – Sam Jones Oct 01 '13 at 14:48

anthonybell · Answer 2 · 2013-10-01T14:34:44.683

0

Sort takes a comparison function and will sort the list with it. After sort is called, the list is sorted.

z = ["item1", "item3", "item2", "item4", "item5", "item8", "item6", "item9", "item10", "item7", "item11"];    
z.sort(function(a, b) { return parseInt(a.substring(4)) - parseInt(b.substring(4)); });

edited Oct 01 '13 at 14:34

answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:16

anthonybell

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:21

Use Following:

var a = new Array();
a = ['item1', 'item3', 'item2', 'item4', 'item5', 'item8', 'item6', 'item9', 'item10', 'item7', 'item11'];
var temparray = new Array();
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
    var substr = (a[i]).substring(4);
    temparray.push(parseInt(substr));
}
temparray.sort(function(a,b){return a-b});
 a=temparray;
console.log(a)

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:30

0

try this, if it is helpful to you

arr.sort(function(a, b) {
a = a.replace("item", "");
b = b.replace("item", "");
if (a > b)
   return 1;
else if (a < b)
   return -1;
else
   return 0;
});

answered Oct 01 '13 at 14:30

Nitu Bansal

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sorting strings ending with numbers, by the ending number

4 Answers4