Javascript sort an array of strings that containing numbers

Question

I'm trying to sort an array of string that sometimes contain numbers.

Here are examples of the array potentially received and the expected result:

["12W", "60W", "25W"] -> ["12W","25W","60W"]
["IP67", "IP68", "IP20"] -> ["IP20","IP67","IP68"]
["White", "Red", "Black"] -> ["Black", "Red", "White"]
["100cm", "10cm", "50cm"] -> ["10cm","50cm","100cm"]
["3000°K", "2700°K", "2000°K"] -> ["2000°K","2700°K","3000°K"]

Here's my actual code: all_values is the array i have to sort.

const customSort = (a, b) => {
   return (Number(a.match(/(\d+)/g)[0]) - Number((b.match(/(\d+)/g[0])))
;};

const hasNumber = (myString) => {
   return /\d/.test(myString);};

// Sort filters
this.product.product_filter.map(filter => {
   if (hasNumber) {
      filter.all_values = filter.all_values.sort(customSort);
   } else {
      filter.all_values = filter.all_values.sort();}
});

Thanks in advance for your help.

Show us what you have tried. SO isn't a free code writing service. The objective here is for you to post your attempts to solve your own issue and others help when they don't work as expected. See [ask] and [mcve] — charlietfl, Nov 29 '20 at 18:50
Look @ this post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2802341/javascript-natural-sort-of-alphanumerical-strings — Aber Abou-Rahma, Nov 29 '20 at 19:07
@NinaScholz it's just an object who contain other datas and the array i have to sort (all_values) — Stev0x, Nov 29 '20 at 19:07

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 29 '20 at 19:16

2

var collator = new Intl.Collator(undefined, {numeric: true, sensitivity: 'base'});
var myArray = ['1_Document', '11_Document', '2_Document'];
console.log(myArray.sort(collator.compare));

answered Nov 29 '20 at 19:16

Aber Abou-Rahma

174
1
9

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 29 '20 at 19:12

I believe your issue lies in how you are using hasNumber. If you are using it as a conditional, it will always be truthy. A function in JavaScript is always truthy, which means your first condition will always be met and will never hit your else block.

I think you are looking to see if any elements in the array can be converted to a number. In this case, you need to inspect the array in its entirety. This is what Array#some or Array#every are designed for. Depending on your requirements, you can either:

Check if every element in the array can be converted to a number or
Check if at least one element can be converted.

In either situation, you are inspecting a single string at any point in time. I believe hasNumber should be renamed isNumber, for clarity's sake.

const isNumber = (myString) => /\d/.test(myString);};
// ...
const hasNumber = filter.every(str => isNumber(str)) // if every element the array can be converted to a number
if (hasNumber) {

Thank you for your explanation which, although I found a solution, allows me to understand part of my problem :) — Stev0x, Nov 29 '20 at 19:18

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 29 '20 at 19:37

You can branch inside the the callback to the Array.sort:

1-if the elements contain numeric values then sort according to those values

2-else sort according to Alphabetic order

function sortAlphaNumeric(arr) {
    return arr.sort((first,second) => {
        let re = /\d+/;
        if(re.test(first) && re.test(second)){
            return parseInt(first.match(re) - parseInt(second.match(re)))
        }
        else{
            return first.codePointAt(0) - second.codePointAt(0) 
        }
    })
}

console.log(sortAlphaNumeric(["12W", "60W", "25W"]))
console.log(sortAlphaNumeric(["IP67", "IP68", "IP20"]))
console.log(sortAlphaNumeric(["White", "Red", "Black"]))
console.log(sortAlphaNumeric(["100cm", "10cm", "50cm"]))
console.log(sortAlphaNumeric(["3000°K", "2700°K", "2000°K"]))

Javascript sort an array of strings that containing numbers

3 Answers3