If I have the following array:

[0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2]

And I'd like to sort it ascending order, barring zeros which I need on the end:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 0, 0]

Bear in mind I don't have access to underscore or linq.js for this solution. My current solution works, but feels quite heavy, long, and not very elegant. Here's my code:

        function sortNumbers(numbers) {
        var zeroNumbers = [];
        var notZeroNumbers = [];

        for (var i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
            if (numbers[i] === 0) {
                zeroNumbers.push(numbers[i]);
            } else {
                notZeroNumbers.push(numbers[i]);
            }
        }

        var sortedNumbers = notZeroNumbers.sort(function (a, b) {
            return parseFloat(a) - parseFloat(b);
        });

        for (var x = 0; x < zeroNumbers.length; x++) {
            sortedNumbers.push(zeroNumbers[x]);
        }

        return sortedNumbers;
    }

Can I improve on this solution?

If I have the following array:

[0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2]

And I'd like to sort it ascending order, barring zeros which I need on the end:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 0, 0]

Bear in mind I don't have access to underscore or linq.js for this solution. My current solution works, but feels quite heavy, long, and not very elegant. Here's my code:

        function sortNumbers(numbers) {
        var zeroNumbers = [];
        var notZeroNumbers = [];

        for (var i = 0; i < numbers.length; i++) {
            if (numbers[i] === 0) {
                zeroNumbers.push(numbers[i]);
            } else {
                notZeroNumbers.push(numbers[i]);
            }
        }

        var sortedNumbers = notZeroNumbers.sort(function (a, b) {
            return parseFloat(a) - parseFloat(b);
        });

        for (var x = 0; x < zeroNumbers.length; x++) {
            sortedNumbers.push(zeroNumbers[x]);
        }

        return sortedNumbers;
    }

Can I improve on this solution?

• javascript

• 1 As a tip for future work with arrays, you should check out array functions, like .map, .sort, .filter, etc. – Frederik Witte Commented Jun 24, 2016 at 13:41
• 1 Here's a great article for sorting and here's a big-o cheat sheet. – Anthony Commented Jun 24, 2016 at 13:44

5 Answers 5

This is not related to this question, but I was searching for "pure sort javascript" and this is the first answer.

Because sort mutates the original array, the best practice when sorting an array is to clone it first.

const sortedArray = [...array].sort(/* optional comparison function*/)

simply try

var output = [0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2].sort(function(a, b) {
  a = a || Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER; //if a == 0 then it will be a falsey value and a will be assigned Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER
  b = b || Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER;
  return a - b;
});

console.log(output)

var arr = [0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2, 9, 8, 7, 0];
arr.sort(function (left, right) {
       return left == right ? 0 : (left === 0 ? 1 : (left < right ? -1 : 1));
});
console.log(arr)

This will always put zeroes at the end regardless of the size of the number.

Another alternative solution using Array.sort, Array.splice and Array.push functions:

var arr = [0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2];
arr.sort();
while(arr[0] === 0) { arr.splice(0,1); arr.push(0); }

console.log(arr);  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 0, 0]

You can use sort for this, which takes a closure/callback.

var sortedArray = [0, 1, 3, 0, 4, 2].sort(function(currentValue, nextValue) {
    if(currentValue === 0) {
        return 1;
    } else {
        return currentValue - nextValue;
    }
});