.sort()

The .sort() method returns an array with its items sorted in place.

Syntax

// No parameters
array.sort();

// With optional function
array.sort((firstElement, secondElement) => { /* function body */ };

If the .sort() method is used with no arguments, all items with undefined values are shifted to the end of the array while the remaining items are converted to strings and sorted by Unicode code point value.

An optional function is used to define how items are sorted. This is done by iterating over the array and comparing every firstElement and secondElement in the /* function body */.

Example

In the following example, the .sort() method is applied to two arrays, letters and numbers (a mix of floats and integers):

const letters = ['d', 'b', 'e', 'a', 'c'];
const numbers = [5, 2, 123, 5.01, 43.5];

console.log('Letters: ', letters.sort());
console.log('Numbers: ', numbers.sort());

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This results in the following output:

Letters: [ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e' ]
Numbers: [ 123, 2, 43.5, 45, 5, 5.01 ]

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The letters were sorted in alphabetical order. The items in numbers were sorted based on the leading number in the item’s value (e.g., their Unicode value). Sorting numerical values more strictly requires a custom comparison function.

Codebyte Example

The following example showcases how the optional callback argument can be used to sort a numbers array in ascending and descending order:

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