Javascript Natural Sort

A natural-sort comparator algorithm.

This version is forked from overset / javascript-natural-sort

We endevour to keep this fork compatible with original however if requirements confict then the Huddle ones will get preference. User beware.

Changes in this fork

Huddle / javascript-natural-sort

version

moved to semvar v1.0.7

Localisation

Tokenised string fragments are compared using the native JavaScript localeCompare method. This helps ensure that extended characters are sorted as per users expectations.

The localeCompare sort is disabled when the naturalSort.insensitive flag is false as it appears to interleave uppercase with lowercase (e.g. A,a,B,b)

Note: Chrome currently does not implement localeCompare as we might expect (it uses char code comparison). We expect this to be fixed soon, see: http://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=459

Negative numbers as strings

A parseInt coercion has been added to tokens whose value is string zero '0'. This ensures that -ve number strings are compared by number value rather than dash prefixed string.

Example use

// setting case insensitive
naturalSort.insensitive = true;

// Simple numerics
>>> ['10',9,2,'1','4'].sort(naturalSort)
['1',2,'4',9,'10']

// Floats
>>> ['10.0401',10.022,10.042,'10.021999'].sort(naturalSort)
['10.021999',10.022,'10.0401',10.042]

// Float & decimal notation
>>> ['10.04f','10.039F','10.038d','10.037D'].sort(naturalSort)
['10.037D','10.038d','10.039F','10.04f']

// Scientific notation
>>> ['1.528535047e5','1.528535047e7','1.528535047e3'].sort(naturalSort)
['1.528535047e3','1.528535047e5','1.528535047e7']

// IP addresses
>>> ['192.168.0.100','192.168.0.1','192.168.1.1'].sort(naturalSort)
['192.168.0.1','192.168.0.100','192.168.1.1']

// Filenames
>>> ['car.mov','01alpha.sgi','001alpha.sgi','my.string_41299.tif'].sort(naturalSort)
['001alpha.sgi','01alpha.sgi','car.mov','my.string_41299.tif'

// Dates
>>> ['10/12/2008','10/11/2008','10/11/2007','10/12/2007'].sort(naturalSort)
['10/11/2007', '10/12/2007', '10/11/2008', '10/12/2008']

// Money
>>> ['$10002.00','$10001.02','$10001.01'].sort(naturalSort)
['$10001.01','$10001.02','$10002.00']

// Movie Titles
>>> ['1 Title - The Big Lebowski','1 Title - Gattaca','1 Title - Last Picture Show'].sort(naturalSort)
['1 Title - Gattaca','1 Title - Last Picture Show','1 Title - The Big Lebowski']

// By default - case-sensitive sorting
>>> ['a', 'B'].sort(naturalSort);
['B', 'a']

// To enable case-insensitive sorting
>>> naturalSort.insensitive = true;
>>> ['a', 'B'].sort(naturalSort);
['a', 'B']