Sorting algorithm for alphanumeric that interprets entire integers instead of characters - Javascript

Question

I need to sort a list that's alphanumeric, but it's botching the multi-digit integers since it's character-by-character and 1 is less than 8.

Any it's particularly tricky because there can be alphabetic characters before and after the numbers. So if it can somehow understand the full integer instead of just the single digit then that would do it.

Normal Sort

Grade 10 Academic
Grade 10 Applied
Grade 11
Grade 8
Grade 9

Desired Sort:

Grade 8
Grade 9
Grade 10 Academic
Grade 10 Applied
Grade 11

Anyone know how to make a Javascript script to sort this way? Or even better if you have an AngularJS solution since I'm using that.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

You'll need to provide some kind of attempt so that we can help out. A common practice is to make all of the numbers fixed-width by padding with zeroes. At that point, a standard alphanum sort will work as expected. — CollinD, Sep 04 '15 at 18:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 04 '15 at 19:50

var arr = [
  "Grade 10 Applied",
  "Grade 10 Academic",
  "Grade 11",
  "Grade 11 Testy",
  "Grade 9",
  "Grade 8"
];

alert(arr.sort(function(a, b) {
  // split the strings into arrays of words
  var aParts = a.split(' ');
  var bParts = b.split(' ');
  // compare the corresponding words, if they are integers parseInt first
  for(var i=0; i < Math.min(aParts.length, bParts.length); i++) {
    var aPart = /\d+/.test(aParts[i]) ? parseInt(aParts[i]) : aParts[i];
    var bPart = /\d+/.test(bParts[i]) ? parseInt(bParts[i]) : bParts[i];
    if(aPart === bPart) { continue; }
    return aPart < bPart ? -1 : 1;
  }
  // fall back to using the array's length
  // ["dog", "cat"] < ["dog", "cat", "frog"]
  return aParts.length - bParts.length
}).join('\n'));

Sorting algorithm for alphanumeric that interprets entire integers instead of characters - Javascript

1 Answers1