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Sorting an array of objects by property values

I've got the following objects using AJAX and stored them in an array:

var homes = [
 {
 "h_id": "3",
 "city": "Dallas",
 "state": "TX",
 "zip": "75201",
 "price": "162500"
 }, {
 "h_id": "4",
 "city": "Bevery Hills",
 "state": "CA",
 "zip": "90210",
 "price": "319250"
 }, {
 "h_id": "5",
 "city": "New York",
 "state": "NY",
 "zip": "00010",
 "price": "962500"
 }
];

How do I create a function to sort the objects by the price property in ascending or descending order using JavaScript only?

Answer*

While it is a bit of an overkill for just sorting a single array, this prototype function allows to sort Javascript arrays by any key, in ascending or descending order, **including nested keys**, using `dot` syntax.

 (function(){
 	var keyPaths = [];
 
 	var saveKeyPath = function(path) {
 		keyPaths.push({
 			sign: (path[0] === '+' || path[0] === '-')? parseInt(path.shift()+1) : 1,
 			path: path
 		});
 	};
 
 	var valueOf = function(object, path) {
 		var ptr = object;
 		for (var i=0,l=path.length; i<l; i++) ptr = ptr[path[i]];
 		return ptr;
 	};
 
 	var comparer = function(a, b) {
 		for (var i = 0, l = keyPaths.length; i < l; i++) {
 			aVal = valueOf(a, keyPaths[i].path);
 			bVal = valueOf(b, keyPaths[i].path);
 			if (aVal > bVal) return keyPaths[i].sign;
 			if (aVal < bVal) return -keyPaths[i].sign;
 		}
 		return 0;
 	};
 
 	Array.prototype.sortBy = function() {
 		keyPaths = [];
 		for (var i=0,l=arguments.length; i<l; i++) {
 			switch (typeof(arguments[i])) {
 				case "object": saveKeyPath(arguments[i]); break;
 				case "string": saveKeyPath(arguments[i].match(/[+-]|[^.]+/g)); break;
 			}
 		}
 		return this.sort(comparer);
 	}; 
 })();

Usage:

 var data = [
 { name: { first: 'Josh', last: 'Jones' }, age: 30 },
 { name: { first: 'Carlos', last: 'Jacques' }, age: 19 },
 { name: { first: 'Carlos', last: 'Dante' }, age: 23 },
 { name: { first: 'Tim', last: 'Marley' }, age: 9 },
 { name: { first: 'Courtney', last: 'Smith' }, age: 27 },
 { name: { first: 'Bob', last: 'Smith' }, age: 30 }
 ]

 data.sortBy('age'); // "Tim Marley(9)", "Carlos Jacques(19)", "Carlos Dante(23)", "Courtney Smith(27)", "Josh Jones(30)", "Bob Smith(30)"

Sorting by nested properties with dot-syntax or array-syntax:

 data.sortBy('name.first'); // "Bob Smith(30)", "Carlos Dante(23)", "Carlos Jacques(19)", "Courtney Smith(27)", "Josh Jones(30)", "Tim Marley(9)"
 data.sortBy(['name', 'first']); // "Bob Smith(30)", "Carlos Dante(23)", "Carlos Jacques(19)", "Courtney Smith(27)", "Josh Jones(30)", "Tim Marley(9)"

Sorting by multiple keys:

 data.sortBy('name.first', 'age'); // "Bob Smith(30)", "Carlos Jacques(19)", "Carlos Dante(23)", "Courtney Smith(27)", "Josh Jones(30)", "Tim Marley(9)"
 data.sortBy('name.first', '-age'); // "Bob Smith(30)", "Carlos Dante(23)", "Carlos Jacques(19)", "Courtney Smith(27)", "Josh Jones(30)", "Tim Marley(9)"

You can fork the repo: https://github.com/eneko/Array.sortBy

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I like this answer a lot because of sortBy's concise syntax. Simple to use –even with nested fields– while maintaining great code-readability. Thank you!

Manfred Urban
– Manfred Urban

2020年05月31日 16:15:12 +00:00
Commented May 31, 2020 at 16:15

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Sorting an array of objects by property values

Answer*