As3 Sorting Alphabetically and Numerically Simultaneously

Question

So I have a sort method designed to sort values alphabetically which works great in almost all cases:

function alphabetical(name1, name2):int { 
        if (name1 < name2){ 
            return -1; 
        } else if (name1 > name2){ 
            return 1; 
        }else { 
            return 0; 
        };
    };

The problem is though, when a title contains a number in it.

For example:

['abc 8','abc 1','abc 10']

would sort to

['abc 1','abc 10','abc 8']

but what I need to happen is for it to sort alphabetically but when it encounters a number a numeric value is taken into consideration and thus the sorting would return

['abc 1','abc 8'.'abc 10']

I was hoping there was some sort of existing regex or algorithms built to do this but I am afraid I haven't the slightest clue what to search for. All my searches for sorting either does it alphabetically or numerically, not both.

thanks so much!

Answer 1

I found a JavaScript solution that translates to AS3: Sort mixed alpha/numeric array.

The solution would look something like:

var reA = /[^a-zA-Z]/g;
var reN = /[^0-9]/g;
function sortAlphaNum(a,b) {
    var aA = a.replace(reA, "");
    var bA = b.replace(reA, "");
    if(aA === bA) {
        var aN = parseInt(a.replace(reN, ""), 10);
        var bN = parseInt(b.replace(reN, ""), 10);
        return aN === bN ? 0 : aN > bN ? 1 : -1;
    } else {
        return aA > bA ? 1 : -1;
    }
}

var arr = ['abc 8','abc 1','abc 10'];
arr.sort(sortAlphaNum);

trace(arr); // abc 1,abc 8,abc 10