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JavaScript sort numbers | Example code

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Use the Compare Function in the sort() method or Loops to sort numbers in JavaScript. Using the alone sort() method will get a weird result, there is numeric order.

var numArray = [140000, 104, 99];
numArray = numArray.sort();
console.log(numArray)//  [ 104, 140000, 99 ]

This is because the array got sorted in lexicographical order (that is, alphabetically), so each integer actually got coerced into a string type.

Solution

sort(function(a, b){return a-b});

JavaScript sort numbers

Simple example code Sort Numeric Array using JavaScript. Sort numbers in ascending and descending order.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
  <script>

  //Ascending 
  const points = [40, 100, 1, 5, 25, 10];
  points.sort(function(a, b){return a-b});
  console.log(points)
  

  //descending 
  var arr = [100, 15, 20, 45, 30, 1];
  arr.sort(function(a, b){return b-a});
  console.log(arr);

</script>
</body>
</html> 

Output:

JavaScript sort numbers

You can also use loops to sort the array elements. Here is a bubble sort (simple sorting technique) to sort the array of elements in ascending order.

<script>

  // Sorting function
  function Numeric_sort(ar) {

    var i = 0, j;

    while (i < ar.length) {
      j = i + 1;
      while (j < ar.length) {

        if (ar[j] < ar[i]) {
          var temp = ar[i];
          ar[i] = ar[j];
          ar[j] = temp;
        }
        j++;
      }
      i++;
    }
  }

  var arr = [100, 15, 20, 45, 30, 1];

  Numeric_sort(arr)
  console.log(arr);

</script>

Output: [ 1, 15, 20, 30, 45, 100 ]

How to sort an array of integers correctly

Answer: By default, the sort() method sorts elements alphabetically. To sort numerically just add a Sort Compare Function that handles numeric sorts.

This compares functions for arrays that don’t contain Infinity or NaN. (Because Infinity - Infinity is NaN, not 0).

<script>
   var numArray = [100, 104, 99];
   numArray.sort(function(a, b) {
    return a - b;
  });

   console.log(numArray);
</script>

Output: [ 99, 100, 104 ]

Do comment if you have any doubts or suggestions on this JS number topic.

Note: The All JS Examples codes are tested on the Firefox browser and the Chrome browser.

OS: Windows 10

Code: HTML 5 Version

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