JavaScript sort() Method
 Complete Array Object Reference
Definition and Usage
The sort() method is used to sort the elements of an array.
Syntax
| Parameter |
Description |
| sortby |
Optional. Specifies the sort order. Must be a function |
Tips and Notes
Note: The sort() method will sort the elements alphabetically by
default. However, this means that numbers will not be sorted
correctly (40 comes before 5). To sort numbers, you must create a function that
compare numbers.
Note: After using the sort() method, the array is changed.
Example 1
In this example we will create an array and sort it alphabetically:
<script type="text/javascript">
var arr = new Array(6);
arr[0] = "Jani";
arr[1] = "Hege";
arr[2] = "Stale";
arr[3] = "Kai Jim";
arr[4] = "Borge";
arr[5] = "Tove";
document.write(arr + "<br />");
document.write(arr.sort());
</script>
|
The output of the code above will be:
Jani,Hege,Stale,Kai Jim,Borge,Tove
Borge,Hege,Jani,Kai Jim,Stale,Tove
|
Example 2
In this example we will create an array containing numbers and sort it:
<script type="text/javascript">
var arr = new Array(6);
arr[0] = "10";
arr[1] = "5";
arr[2] = "40";
arr[3] = "25";
arr[4] = "1000";
arr[5] = "1";
document.write(arr + "<br />");
document.write(arr.sort());
</script>
|
The output of the code above will be:
10,5,40,25,1000,1
1,10,1000,25,40,5
|
Note that the numbers above are NOT sorted correctly (by numeric value).
To solve this problem, we must add a function that handles this problem:
<script type="text/javascript">
function sortNumber(a,b)
{
return a - b;
}
var arr = new Array(6);
arr[0] = "10";
arr[1] = "5";
arr[2] = "40";
arr[3] = "25";
arr[4] = "1000";
arr[5] = "1";
document.write(arr + "<br />");
document.write(arr.sort(sortNumber));
</script>
|
The output of the code above will be:
10,5,40,25,1000,1
1,5,10,25,40,1000
|
Try-It-Yourself Demos
sort()
alphabetically
How to use sort() to sort an array alphabetically.
sort() by number
How to use sort() to sort an array by number.
Complete Array Object Reference
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