I am trying to sort an array from lowest to highest value.
the example below shows it already sorted in this manner
var array = ["-394","-275","-156","-37","82","201","320","439","558","677","796"];
However when I do this:
var array = ["-394", "-275", "-156", "-37", "82", "201", "320", "439", "558", "677", "796"];
array.sort(function(a, b) {
return a.localeCompare(b, undefined, {
numeric: true
})
});
console.log(array);
I am trying to sort an array from lowest to highest value.
the example below shows it already sorted in this manner
var array = ["-394","-275","-156","-37","82","201","320","439","558","677","796"];
However when I do this:
var array = ["-394", "-275", "-156", "-37", "82", "201", "320", "439", "558", "677", "796"];
array.sort(function(a, b) {
return a.localeCompare(b, undefined, {
numeric: true
})
});
console.log(array);
This is returned (i'm not sure what sorting has occurred):
["-37", "-156", "-275", "-394", "82", "201", "320", "439", "558", "677", "796"]
I've looked at:
https://developer.mozilla/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/localeCompare
but it doesn't seem to mentioned anything specifically about handling negative numbers.
What is the correct way to sort an array of numbers that includes negative values?
Share Improve this question edited Jul 2, 2019 at 3:59 Jack Bashford 44.1k11 gold badges55 silver badges82 bronze badges asked Jul 2, 2019 at 3:54 user1063287user1063287 10.9k27 gold badges140 silver badges237 bronze badges2 Answers
Reset to default 7Because your array items can be coerced to numbers directly, why not do that instead?
var array = ["-394","-275","-156","-37","82","201","320","439","558","677","796"];
array.sort(function(a,b) { return a - b } );
console.log(array);
The a - b
, which uses the subtraction operator, will coerce the expressions on both sides to numbers.
Numeric collation unfortunately does not take into account -
signs. Your current code results in the sorter sorting -
numbers before the numbers without -
before them (because -
es before numbers, lexiographically).
console.log('-'.charCodeAt());
console.log('0'.charCodeAt());
So with
"-37",
"-156",
"-275",
"-394",
37 es before 156, which es before 275, which es before 394. (The same thing is happening with the positive numbers, they just all e afterwards).
Just use sort
- all your items can be implicitly converted to numbers.
var array = ["-394","-275","-156","-37","82","201","320","439","558","677","796"];
const res = array.sort((a, b) => a - b);
console.log(res);
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