[SOLVED] Custom Javascript Array sort not sorting correctly

[mikesta707]

Ok, I have a 2-d array, and I am trying to sort it numerically by the 6th column (or array[5]). The array is something like

 

array = ("Stuff", "Something else" "other stuff", 95, 95, 100);

 

The 6th column is the percent of quotient of the 4th and 5th column times 100 (basically a percent)

 

So the sorting code I have looks like the following

function value_sort(a,b) {
	a = a[5];
	b = b[5];
	return a == b ? 0 : (a > b ? -1 : 1)
}
full_array.sort(value_sort)

 

It does sort it somewhat, but When it sorts, anything below 100% (IE 99 % 98% etc.) is sorted correctly, but 100% values are below everything but 0% values. so if the array's 6th column looks like the following

 

100

99

98

97

96

100

100

100

5

6

7

8

0

0

0

 

then the sorted array will look like:

99

98

97

96

8

7

6

5

100

100

100

100

0

0

0

 

I don't really understand why. Anyone got any ideas?

[mikesta707]

never mind, I figured it out. For those who are curious the reason goes as follows:

 

Using my method, it is sorting as a numeric string, not as a quantifiable number, and since the value "100" starts with 1, it goes below every other number except for zero. To fix this, I added a preceding "0" to any number of two digits or lower. the fixed function looks like the following:

 

function value_sort(a,b) {
	a = a[5];
	b = b[5];
	if (a.length < 3){
		pre = "0";
		a = pre + a;
	}
	if (b.length < 3){
		pre = "0";
		b = pre + b;
	}

	return a == b ? 0 : (a > b ? -1 : 1);
}

 

[haku]

You can also cast your data as a number type in order to do this, which would remove the necessity for leading zeros.