Sort an array with arrays in it by string

Question

I have an array that contains several arrays and I would like to order the arrays based on a certain string within those arrays.

var myArray = [                 [1, 'alfred', '...'],                 [23, 'berta', '...'],                 [2, 'zimmermann', '...'],                 [4, 'albert', '...'],               ]; 

How can I sort it by the name so that albert comes first and zimmermann comes last?

I know how I would do it if I could use the integer for sorting but the string leaves me clueless.

Thank for your help! :)

Answer 1

This can be achieved by passing a supporting function as an argument to the Array.sort method call.

Something like this:

 function Comparator(a, b) {     if (a[1] < b[1]) return -1;     if (a[1] > b[1]) return 1;     return 0;   }     var myArray = [     [1, 'alfred', '...'],     [23, 'berta', '...'],     [2, 'zimmermann', '...'],     [4, 'albert', '...'],   ];     myArray = myArray.sort(Comparator);   console.log(myArray);

Answer 2

You can still use array.sort() with a custom function. Inside the function, simply compare the element that you want to use as your key. For you example, you could use:

myArray.sort(function(a, b) {      return a[1] > b[1] ? 1 : -1; });