Cannot sort array into ascending numeric order in Javascript

Question

I'm trying to sort an array shown below using the .sort() method in JavaScript.

var addresses = [
    "5 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan",     
    "51 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "53 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "55 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "57 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "7 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "9 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan"
];

However, after the .sort method has been invoked and I write the array to the document. The array doesn't seem to change into ascending numeric order.

Can anyone see where I'm going wrong?

What is the expected output?

Tushar
– Tushar

2015-07-22 08:37:26 +00:00
Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 8:37 — Tushar
– Tushar, Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 8:37

Shilly · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 08:37:02Z

2

Your array contains strings, so they'll be sorted alphabetically instead of numerically. You'll want to use a sorting function as the parameter of array.sort and parse out the house number.

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 8:37

Shilly

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Comments

Liam Jay · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 09:18:58Z

1

Got it working in the end with the following code shown below:

function naturalCompare(a, b) {
    var ax = [], bx = [];

    a.replace(/(\d+)|(\D+)/g, function(_, $1, $2) { ax.push([$1 || Infinity, $2 || ""]) });
    b.replace(/(\d+)|(\D+)/g, function(_, $1, $2) { bx.push([$1 || Infinity, $2 || ""]) });

    while(ax.length && bx.length) {
        var an = ax.shift();
        var bn = bx.shift();
        var nn = (an[0] - bn[0]) || an[1].localeCompare(bn[1]);
        if(nn) return nn;
    }

    return ax.length - bx.length;
}

addresses = addresses.sort(naturalCompare);

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 9:18

Liam Jay

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1 Comment

Hacketo Over a year ago

addresses = addresses.sort(naturalCompare); is not needed. the sort method update the array, so you don't need to reassign addresses.

Hacketo · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 09:22:38Z

1

You could use this sort function that compare the first numbers of the strings

var addresses = [
    "5 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan",     
    "51 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "53 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "55 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "57 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "7 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "9 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan"
];


addresses.sort(function(a, b){
  return +a.split(" ")[0] - +b.split(" ")[0];
});

console.log(addresses);

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 9:22

Hacketo

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Comments

user1659922 · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 08:44:38Z

0

check below example

var points = [40, 100, 1, 5, 25, 10];
points.sort(function(a, b){return a-b});

http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_sort.asp

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 8:44

user1659922

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Comments

Rein · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 09:28:09Z

0

try this

var addresses = [
    "5 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan",     
    "51 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "53 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "55 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "57 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "7 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan", 
    "9 Glyn Eiddew, , , , Llanbradach, Caerphilly, Mid Glamorgan"
];

addresses.sort(function(a, b){
    return a.split(' ')[0] - b.split(' ')[0]
})

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 9:28

Rein

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