Sort an Array of Strings in JavaScript, TypeScript or Node.js

Sorting arrays of data is an everyday use case in applications. For example, you want to display a list of names in alphabetical order and allow the user to toggle the sorting from ascending to descending and vice-versa.

This tutorial shows you how to sort an array of strings in JavaScript.

Node.js Series Overview

  1. String Replace All Appearances
  2. Remove All Whitespace From a String in JavaScript
  3. Generate a Random ID or String in Node.js or JavaScript
  4. Remove Extra Spaces From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  5. Remove Numbers From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  6. Get the Part Before a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  7. Get the Part After a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  8. How to Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  9. Check If a String Includes All Strings in JavaScript/Node.js/TypeScript
  10. Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript and Node.js
  11. Limit and Truncate a String to a Given Length in JavaScript and Node.js
  12. Split a String into a List of Characters in JavaScript and Node.js
  13. How to Generage a UUID in Node.js
  14. Reverse a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  15. Split a String into a List of Lines in JavaScript or Node.js
  16. Split a String into a List of Words in JavaScript or Node.js
  17. Detect if a String is in camelCase Format in Javascript or Node.js
  18. Check If a String Is in Lowercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  19. Check If a String is in Uppercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  20. Get the Part After First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  21. Get the Part Before First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  22. Get the Part Before Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  23. Get the Part After Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  24. How to Count Words in a File
  25. How to Shuffle the Characters of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  26. Append Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  27. Check if a String is Empty in JavaScript or Node.js
  28. Ensure a String Ends with a Given Character in JavaScript or Node.js
  29. Left-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  30. Right-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  31. Lowercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  32. Uppercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  33. Prepend Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  34. Check if a String is a Number
  35. Convert a String to Buffer
  36. Prevent Line Breaks in String Template Literals

Sort a String Array in JavaScript

JavaScript comes with the Array#sort method. This sort method allows you to provide a comparator callback. The return value of the comparator function determines the sorting.

Notice: the Array#sort method in JavaScript mutates the array. Please create a copy of your array if you want (or need) to keep the original sorting of your data.

Sort Using String.localeCompare()

JavaScript string value implement the localeCompare method. This method returns a number indicating whether the comparison string comes before, after, or is the same string value in sort order.

Here’s an example of sorting an array of words using accents, lowercase, and uppercase:

['réservé', 'RESERVE'].sort((a, b) => {
  return a.localeCompare(b)
})

// ['RESERVE', 'réservé']

You can also pass a reference “locale” as the second argument and an options object as the third argument:

['réservé', 'RESERVE'].sort((a, b) => {
  return a.localeCompare(b, 'en', { sensitivity: 'base' })
})

// ['réservé', 'RESERVE']

The configuration options allow you to control the sorting based on your language requirements.

Sort Strings in Ascending Order

Another way to sort string values is a comparison and returning the desired integer value. When sorting ascending, you should return -1 to tell the comparator that the first value comes before the reference.

The following example uses case-insensitive sorting by lowercasing before comparing them. Using a lowercase comparison keeps the alphabetical order:

['marcus', 'Christian', 'Norman'].sort((a, b) => {
  return a.toLowerCase() < b.toLowerCase()
    ? -1
    : 1
})

// ['Christian', 'marcus', 'Norman']

The sorting is different when comparing the given string values case-sensitively:

['marcus', 'Christian', 'Norman'].sort((a, b) => {
  return a < b ? -1 : 1
})

// ['Christian', 'Norman', 'marcus']

Sort Strings in Descending Order

You can also sort a string array in descending order returning a 1 when the first value should come after the reference value:

['Marcus', 'Christian', 'Norman'].sort((a, b) => {
  return a.toLowerCase() < b.toLowerCase()
    ? 1
    : -1
})

Enjoy sorting string arrays!


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