Javascript sort by element inside array

Question

I need to sort an complex array order by one column of the array.

For example, this array might looks like

array = [["Banana","Chapter3"], ["Orange","Chapter2"], ["Apple","Chapter1"]];

I want it to sort by Chapter, so the result will be

array = ["Apple","Chapter1"],["Orange","Chapter2"],["Banana","Chapter3"]]

But if I do array.sort, it will become

[["Apple","Chapter1"],["Banana","Chapter3"],["Orange","Chapter2"]]

It seems sort by first element's ascii code. How do I sort by specific element in array?

I also created a JSfiddle to illustrate my idea.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16096872/how-to-sort-2-dimensional-array-by-column-value . Top answer has a solution for your problem. — DVJex, Aug 22 '16 at 05:27

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 22 '16 at 05:29

You need to pass a comparator to sort:

var array = [["Banana","Chapter3"], ["Orange","Chapter2"], ["Apple","Chapter1"]];

var sorted = array.sort(function (a, b) {
  if (a[1] > b[1]) {
    return 1;
  } else if (a[1] < b[1]) {
    return -1;
  } else {
    return 0;
  }
});

console.log(sorted);

// [ [ 'Apple', 'Chapter1' ],
//   [ 'Orange', 'Chapter2' ],
//   [ 'Banana', 'Chapter3' ] ]

Javascript sort by element inside array

1 Answers1