Sorting Arrays And Objects In JavaScript.

In JavaScript

JavaScript offers a variety of methods for sorting arrays and objects by key and value. In this guide, we will explore the different ways to sort arrays and objects in JavaScript.

Sorting an Array by Value

The sort() method is a built-in JavaScript function that sorts the elements of an array in ascending order. For example:

let numbers = [3, 5, 1, 2, 4];
numbers.sort();
console.log(numbers); // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Sorting an Array by Value in descending order

If you want to sort the array elements in descending order, you can pass a compare function to the sort() method. Here's an example:

let numbers = [3, 5, 1, 2, 4];
numbers.sort(function(a, b) {
  return b - a;
});
console.log(numbers); // [5, 4, 3, 2, 1]

Sorting an Array of Objects by Key

You can use the sort() method along with the map() method to sort an array of objects by a specific key. For example, if you have an array of people objects, and you want to sort them by age, you can use the following code:

let people = [
  {name: 'John', age: 25},
  {name: 'Mary', age: 28},
  {name: 'Jane', age: 22}
];
people.sort(function(a, b) {
  return a.age - b.age;
});
console.log(people);
/*
[
  {name: 'Jane', age: 22},
  {name: 'John', age: 25},
  {name: 'Mary', age: 28}
]
*/

Sorting an Object by Value

Unfortunately, JavaScript doesn't have a built-in method for sorting objects by value. However, you can use the Object.entries() method along with the sort() method to sort an object by value. Here's an example:

let scores = {
  John: 25,
  Mary: 28,
  Jane: 22
};
let sortedScores = Object.entries(scores).sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1]);
console.log(sortedScores);
/*
[
  ["Mary", 28],
  ["John", 25],
  ["Jane", 22]
]
*/

Sorting an Object by Key

You can use the Object.entries() method along with the sort() method to sort an object by key. Here's an example:

let scores = {
  John: 25,
  Mary: 28,
  Jane: 22
};
let sortedScores = Object.entries(scores).sort((a, b) => a[0].localeCompare(b[0]));
console.log(sortedScores);
/*
[
  ["Jane", 22],
  ["John", 25],
  ["Mary", 28]
]
*/

Sorting an Array of Strings by locale

You can use the localeCompare() method to sort an array of strings based on a specific locale. Here's an example:

let words = ["résumé", "Resume", "resume", "résumé"];
words.sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b, undefined, { sensitivity: 'base' }));
console.log(words); // ["resume", "Resume", "résumé", "résumé"]


In conclusion, JavaScript provides various ways to sort arrays and objects by key and value. The sort() method modifies the original array or object, so if you need to preserve the original data, you should create a copy before sorting. Additionally, when sorting strings that contain non-English characters, you can use the localeCompare() method to sort them based on a specific locale.

You May Also Like