How can one compare string and numeric values (respecting negative values, with null always last)?

Question

I\'m trying to sort an array of values that can be a mixture of numeric or string values (e.g. [10,\"20\",null,\"1\",\"bar\",\"-2\",-3,null,5,\"foo\"]). How can

Answer 1

Use this:

function typeOrder(x) {
    if (x == null)
        return 2;
    if (isNaN(+x))
        return 1;
    return 0;
}
function sortNumber(a, b) {
    a = parseInt(a, 10); b = parseInt(b, 10);
    if (isNaN(a) || isNaN(b))
        return 0;
    return a - b;
}
function sortString(a, b) {
    if (typeof a != "string" || typeof b != "string")
       return 0;
    return +(a > b) || -(b > a);
}

order = order == "dsc" ? -1 : 1;
numericArr.sort(function(a, b) {
    return order * ( typeOrder(a)-typeOrder(b)
                     || sortNumber(a, b)
                     || sortString(a, b)
                   );
});

(updated fiddle)