Underscore.js sort an array of objects alphanumerically

Question

I have an array of objects and I\'m trying to sort them alphanumerically, take the following example:

var objs = {
    \'obj1\': {\'name\': \'Object21\'},
           


        

Answer 1

I've managed to find a solution to this myself using Google :-) here's what I used for those that need this in future and it's actually called "Natural Sorting"

use by calling _.sortByNat(objs, function(obj) { return obj.name; })

/*
* Backbone.js & Underscore.js Natural Sorting
*
* @author Kevin Jantzer 
* @since 2013-10-17
* 
* NOTE: make sure to include the Natural Sort algorithm by Jim Palmer (https://github.com/overset/javascript-natural-sort)
*/

// add _.sortByNat() method
_.mixin({

    sortByNat: function(obj, value, context) {
        var iterator = _.isFunction(value) ? value : function(obj){ return obj[value]; };
        return _.pluck(_.map(obj, function(value, index, list) {
          return {
            value: value,
            index: index,
            criteria: iterator.call(context, value, index, list)
          };
        }).sort(function(left, right) {
          var a = left.criteria;
          var b = right.criteria;
          return naturalSort(a, b);
        }), 'value');
    }
});

/*
* Natural Sort algorithm for Javascript - Version 0.7 - Released under MIT license
* Author: Jim Palmer (based on chunking idea from Dave Koelle)
* https://github.com/overset/javascript-natural-sort
*/
function naturalSort (a, b) {
    var re = /(^-?[0-9]+(\.?[0-9]*)[df]?e?[0-9]?$|^0x[0-9a-f]+$|[0-9]+)/gi,
        sre = /(^[ ]*|[ ]*$)/g,
        dre = /(^([\w ]+,?[\w ]+)?[\w ]+,?[\w ]+\d+:\d+(:\d+)?[\w ]?|^\d{1,4}[\/\-]\d{1,4}[\/\-]\d{1,4}|^\w+, \w+ \d+, \d{4})/,
        hre = /^0x[0-9a-f]+$/i,
        ore = /^0/,
        i = function(s) { return naturalSort.insensitive && (''+s).toLowerCase() || ''+s },
        // convert all to strings strip whitespace
        x = i(a).replace(sre, '') || '',
        y = i(b).replace(sre, '') || '',
        // chunk/tokenize
        xN = x.replace(re, '\0$1\0').replace(/\0$/,'').replace(/^\0/,'').split('\0'),
        yN = y.replace(re, '\0$1\0').replace(/\0$/,'').replace(/^\0/,'').split('\0'),
        // numeric, hex or date detection
        xD = parseInt(x.match(hre)) || (xN.length != 1 && x.match(dre) && Date.parse(x)),
        yD = parseInt(y.match(hre)) || xD && y.match(dre) && Date.parse(y) || null,
        oFxNcL, oFyNcL;
    // first try and sort Hex codes or Dates
    if (yD)
        if ( xD < yD ) return -1;
        else if ( xD > yD ) return 1;
    // natural sorting through split numeric strings and default strings
    for(var cLoc=0, numS=Math.max(xN.length, yN.length); cLoc < numS; cLoc++) {
        // find floats not starting with '0', string or 0 if not defined (Clint Priest)
        oFxNcL = !(xN[cLoc] || '').match(ore) && parseFloat(xN[cLoc]) || xN[cLoc] || 0;
        oFyNcL = !(yN[cLoc] || '').match(ore) && parseFloat(yN[cLoc]) || yN[cLoc] || 0;
        // handle numeric vs string comparison - number < string - (Kyle Adams)
        if (isNaN(oFxNcL) !== isNaN(oFyNcL)) { return (isNaN(oFxNcL)) ? 1 : -1; }
        // rely on string comparison if different types - i.e. '02' < 2 != '02' < '2'
        else if (typeof oFxNcL !== typeof oFyNcL) {
            oFxNcL += '';
            oFyNcL += '';
        }
        if (oFxNcL < oFyNcL) return -1;
        if (oFxNcL > oFyNcL) return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}

// extend Array to have a natural sort
Array.prototype.sortNat = function(){
    return Array.prototype.sort.call(this, naturalSort)
}