Sort nested divs alphabetically

Question

I have the following div layout:

<div class="container">
    <div class="entry">
        <div class="title">World</div>
        <div class="description">text1</div>
    </div>

    <div class="entry">
        <div class="title">hello</div>
        <div class="description">text2</div>
    </div>

    <div class="entry">
        <div class="title">Lorem</div>
        <div class="description">text3</div>
    </div>
</div>

I want to sort the entry divs alphabetically by the content of the child title div.

What I've tried so far

This will sort it alphabetically:

var alphabeticallyOrderedDivs = $('.title').sort(function(a, b) {
            return String.prototype.localeCompare.call($(a).text().toLowerCase(), $(b).text().toLowerCase());
        });

var container = $(".container");
container.detach().empty().append(alphabeticallyOrderedDivs);
$('body').append(container);

But it will strip the description divs. Try jsFiddle demo.

How can I sort the divs alphabetically without stripping anything?

Answer 1

Your logic is correct, but the issue is you're sorting the .title elements. Instead you need to sort the .entry elements, and then find the .title within the current .entry and perform the comparison on their text values. Try this:

var alphabeticallyOrderedDivs = $('.entry').sort(function(a, b) {
  var $aTitle = $(a).find('.title'), $bTitle = $(b).find('.title');
  return String.prototype.localeCompare.call($aTitle.text().toLowerCase(), $bTitle.text().toLowerCase());
});

var container = $(".container");
container.detach().empty().append(alphabeticallyOrderedDivs);
$('body').append(container);

.entry {
  border: 1px solid #CCC;
  padding: 5px;
  margin: 5px;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="container">
  <div class="entry">
    <div class="title">World</div>
    <div class="description">text1</div>
  </div>

  <div class="entry">
    <div class="title">hello</div>
    <div class="description">text2</div>
  </div>

  <div class="entry">
    <div class="title">Lorem</div>
    <div class="description">text3</div>
  </div>
</div>