Sorting objects in an array by a field value in JavaScript

You can also create a dynamic sort function that sorts objects by their value that you pass:

function dynamicSort(property) {
    var sortOrder = 1;
    if(property[0] === "-") {
        sortOrder = -1;
        property = property.substr(1, property.length - 1);
    }
    return function (a,b) {
        var result = (a[property] < b[property]) ? -1 : (a[property] > b[property]) ? 1 : 0;
        return result * sortOrder;
    }
}

So you can have an array of objects like this:

var People = [
    {Name: "Name", Surname: "Surname"},
    {Name:"AAA", Surname:"ZZZ"},
    {Name: "Name", Surname: "AAA"}
];

...and it will work when you do:

People.sort(dynamicSort("Name"));
People.sort(dynamicSort("Surname"));
People.sort(dynamicSort("-Surname"));

I wouldn't recommend changing a native object prototype but just to give an example so you can implement it on your own objects (For the environments that support it, you can also use Object.defineProperty, which doesn't have the negative side-effects of fiddling with a native object's prototype):

Array.prototype.sortBy = function(property) {
    return this.sort(dynamicSort(property))
}

then you can do stuff like:

People.sortBy("Name");

Hope it helps.

Update: You can use the function below to generate sort functions with multiple sort parameters.

function dynamicSortMultiple() {
    /*
     * save the arguments object as it will be overwritten
     * note that arguments object is an array-like object
     * consisting of the names of the properties to sort by
     */
    var props = arguments;
    return function (obj1, obj2) {
        var i = 0, result = 0, numberOfProperties = props.length;
        /* try getting a different result from 0 (equal)
         * as long as we have extra properties to compare
         */
        while(result === 0 && i < numberOfProperties) {
            result = dynamicSort(props[i])(obj1, obj2);
            i++;
        }
        return result;
    }
}

Which would enable you to do something like this:

People.sort(dynamicSortMultiple("Name", "-Surname"));

This can also be extended to have custom functions for comparison easily.

If you have duplicate last names you might sort those by first name-

obj.sort(function(a,b){
  if(a.last_nom< b.last_nom) return -1;
  if(a.last_nom >b.last_nom) return 1;
  if(a.first_nom< b.first_nom) return -1;
  if(a.first_nom >b.first_nom) return 1;
  return 0;
}

Instead of using a custom comparison function, you could also create an object type with custom toString() method (which is invoked by the default comparison function):

function Person(firstName, lastName) {
    this.firtName = firstName;
    this.lastName = lastName;
}

Person.prototype.toString = function() {
    return this.lastName + ', ' + this.firstName;
}

var persons = [ new Person('Lazslo', 'Jamf'), ...]
persons.sort();

This script allows you to do just that unless you want to write your own comparison function or sorter:

http://www.thomasfrank.se/sorting_things.html

underscore.js

use underscore, its small and awesome...

sortBy_.sortBy(list, iterator, [context]) Returns a sorted copy of list, ranked in ascending order by the results of running each value through iterator. Iterator may also be the string name of the property to sort by (eg. length).

var objs = [ { first_nom: 'Lazslo',last_nom: 'Jamf' },
        { first_nom: 'Pig', last_nom: 'Bodine'  },
        { first_nom: 'Pirate', last_nom: 'Prentice' }
       ];

_.sortBy( objs, 'first_nom' );

additional desc params for Ege Özcan code

function dynamicSort(property, desc) {
    if (desc) {
        return function (a, b) {
            return (a[property] > b[property]) ? -1 : (a[property] < b[property]) ? 1 : 0;
        }   
    }
    return function (a, b) {
        return (a[property] < b[property]) ? -1 : (a[property] > b[property]) ? 1 : 0;
    }
}

Simple and quick solution to this problem using prototype inheritance.

Solution

Array.prototype.sortByProp = function(p){
 return this.sort(function(a,b){
  return (a[p] > b[p]) ? 1 : (a[p] < b[p]) ? -1 : 0;
 });
}

Example / Usage

objs = [{age:44,name:'vinay'},{age:24,name:'deepak'},{age:74,name:'suresh'}];

objs.sortByProp('age');
// Returns
// [{"age":24,"name":"deepak"},{"age":44,"name":"vinay"},{"age":74,"name":"suresh"}]

objs.sortByProp('name');
// Returns
// [{"age":24,"name":"deepak"},{"age":74,"name":"suresh"},{"age":44,"name":"vinay"}]