javascript sort of HTML elements

Question

I\'m trying to sort an li elements and get an unexpacted result I need to sort it three times to get it correctly,

where have I mistaken? javascript

Answer 1

There are much better ways to sort.

1. You need a comparison function that returns the right values: -1, 0, and 1.
2. localeCompare() is such a comparison function.
3. You can just move the DOM elements around rather than regenerating the HTML.
4. You can get the LI elements directly in the original selector.
5. "#table1" is a more efficient selector than "ol#table1".

I would suggest this:

$("div#btn").click(function() {
    var sort_by_name = function(a, b) {
        return a.innerHTML.toLowerCase().localeCompare(b.innerHTML.toLowerCase());
    }

    var list = $("#table1 > li").get();
    list.sort(sort_by_name);
    for (var i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
        list[i].parentNode.appendChild(list[i]);
    }
});​

Which you can see work here: http://jsfiddle.net/jfriend00/yqd3w/

Answer 2

var sort_by_name = function(a, b) {
    return $(a).text().toLowerCase().localeCompare($(b).text().toLowerCase());
}

You can use localeCompare instead to make things more elegant and workable.

See jsfiddle http://jsfiddle.net/Qww87/11/

Answer 3

according to documentation it needs numeric values. more intelligible:

    var sort_by_name = function(a, b) {
         if(a.innerHTML.toLowerCase() < b.innerHTML.toLowerCase()) return -1;
         if(a.innerHTML.toLowerCase() > b.innerHTML.toLowerCase()) return 1;
         return 0;
    }

Answer 4

A custom compareFunction needs to return -1, 0 or 1.

function sort_by_name(a, b) {
    var sa = a.innerHTML.toLowerCase(), sb = b.innerHTML.toLowerCase();
    return sb<sa ? -1 : sb>sa ? 1 : 0;
}

Answer 5

Use my jquery plugin Sort Content :

   $('ol#table1').sortContent({asc:true})

That's it!

DEMO : http://jsfiddle.net/abdennour/SjWXU/