Sorting inner array for a string

Question

Both attempts fail to sort the inner arrays:

a=[['c'],['b']]
a.sort(function(a,b){a[0]<b[0]}) // returns c,b
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))
a.sort(function(a,b){a[0]>b[0]}) // returns c,b
console.log(JSON.stringify(a))

What am I doing wrong? Thank you!

http://jsfiddle.net/0w7t3ov2/

The comparison function is supposed to return a number, not true or false. — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 1:21
Using a[0]<b[0]?1:-1 did not work either: jsfiddle.net/0w7t3ov2/1 — jcalfee314
– jcalfee314, Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 1:25

Pointy · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-27 01:21:57Z

2

The function you pass to .sort() needs to return an integer, not a boolean. The integer should be less than zero if the first argument should come before the second in the sort order; greater than zero if it should come after; and zero if they're equal.

So, in your case:

a.sort(function(a, b) {
  return a[0] < b[0] ? -1 :
         a[0] > b[0] ? 1 :
         0;
});

answered Dec 27, 2014 at 1:21

Pointy

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