Sorting an array of JavaScript objects

// Here's a more flexible version, which allows you to create 
// reusable sort functions, and sort by any field

var sort_by = function(field, reverse, primer){

   var key = function (x) {return primer ? primer(x[field]) : x[field]};

   return function (a,b) {
       var A = key(a), B = key(b);
       return ((A < B) ? -1 : (A > B) ? +1 : 0) * [-1,1][+!!reverse];                  
   }
}


// Now you can sort by any field at will...

var homes = [{

   "h_id": "3",
   "city": "Dallas",
   "state": "TX",
   "zip": "75201",
   "price": "162500"

}, {

   "h_id": "4",
   "city": "Bevery Hills",
   "state": "CA",
   "zip": "90210",
   "price": "319250"

}, {

   "h_id": "5",
   "city": "New York",
   "state": "NY",
   "zip": "00010",
   "price": "962500"

}];

// Sort by price high to low
homes.sort(sort_by('price', true, parseInt));

// Sort by city, case-insensitive, A-Z
homes.sort(sort_by('city', false, function(a){return a.toUpperCase()}));

To sort it you need to create a comparator function taking two arguments and then call the sort function with that comparator function as follows:

// a and be are object elements of your array
function mycomparator(a,b) {
  return parseInt(a.price) - parseInt(b.price);

}

If you want to sort ascending change parseInt(a.price) - parseInt(b.price) to parseInt(b.price) - parseInt(a.price). Note the change from a to b.

To do the sort

homes.sort(mycomparator);

You want to sort it in Javascript, right? What you want is the sort() function. In this case you need to write a comparator function and pass it to sort(), so something like this:

function comparator(a, b) {
    return parseInt(a["price"]) > parseInt(b["price"]);
}

var json = { "homes": [ /* your previous data */ ] };
console.log(json["homes"].sort(comparator));

Your comparator takes one of each of the nested hashes inside the array and decides which one is higher by checking the "price" field.

This is a nice JQuery plug in:

http://plugins.jquery.com/project/sort

You can use the JavaScript sort method with a callback function:

function compareASC(homeA, homeB)
{
    return parseFloat(homeA.price) - parseFloat(homeB.price);
}

function compareDESC(homeA, homeB)
{
    return parseFloat(homeB.price) - parseFloat(homeA.price);
}

// Sort ASC
homes.sort(compareASC);

// Sort DESC
homes.sort(compareDESC);

Since objects don't really have an order I'm not aware of any functions to re-order them.

Of course, I don't know everything. Maybe you ought to store that stuff in an array instead? You can still pass it around like an object.

Edit:

Didn't pay enough attention to the code, that was an array in the first place, not an object. Ignore this post :)