Package Exports

string-natural-compare

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Readme

Natural Compare

Compare alphanumeric strings the same way a human would, using a natural order algorithm

Bower Version

Installation

Node.js:

npm install string-natural-compare --save

Then in your JS:

require('string-natural-compare');

Bower:

Get the package:

bower install string-natural-compare

Include the script in your HTML (drop the ".min" to use the development version):

<script src="/bower_components/string-natural-compare/dist/natural-compare.min.js"></script>

Plain HTML:

Download the script and include it in your page:

<script src="natural-compare.min.js"></script>

Usage

Natural Compare makes two functions available on the global String object:

String.naturalCompare (case-sensitive)
String.naturalCaseCompare (case-insensitive)

Examples:

// Simple case-sensitive sorting
var a = ['z1.doc', 'z10.doc', 'z17.doc', 'z2.doc', 'z23.doc', 'z3.doc'];
a.sort(String.naturalCompare);
// -> ['z1.doc', 'z2.doc', 'z3.doc', 'z10.doc', 'z17.doc', 'z23.doc']


// Simple case-insensitive sorting
var a = ['B', 'C', 'a', 'd'];
a.sort(String.naturalCaseCompare);
// -> ['a', 'B', 'C', 'd']


// Compare very large numbers as strings (or strings containing long, numeric substrings)
String.naturalCompare(
  '1165874568735487968325787328996865',
  '1165874568735487968325787328996864'
);
// -> 1


// In most cases we want to sort an array of objects
var a = [
  {street: '350 5th Ave', room: 'A-1021'},
  {street: '350 5th Ave', room: 'A-21046-b'}
];

// Sort by street, then by room
a.sort(function(a, b) {
  return String.naturalCompare(a.street, b.street) || String.naturalCompare(a.room, b.room);
});


// When text transformation is needed or when doing a case-insensitive sort on a
// large array, it is best for performance to pre-compute the transformed text
// and store it in that object. This way, the text transformation will not be
// needed for every comparison when sorting.
var a = [
  {make: 'Audi', model: 'R8'},
  {make: 'Porsche', model: '911 Turbo S'}
];

// Sort by make, then by model
a = a.map(function(car) {
  car.sort_key = (car.make + ' ' + car.model).toLowerCase();
});
a.sort(function(a, b) {
  return String.naturalCompare(a.sort_key, b.sort_key);
});

Custom Alphabet

It is possible to configure a custom alphabet to achieve a desired character ordering.

// Estonian alphabet
String.alphabet = 'ABDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSŠZŽTUVÕÄÖÜXYabdefghijklmnoprsšzžtuvõäöüxy';
['t', 'z', 'x', 'õ'].sort(String.naturalCompare);
// -> ['z', 't', 'õ', 'x']

// Russian alphabet
String.alphabet = 'АБВГДЕЁЖЗИЙКЛМНОПРСТУФХЦЧШЩЪЫЬЭЮЯабвгдеёжзийклмнопрстуфхцчшщъыьэюя';
['Ё', 'А', 'Б'].sort(String.naturalCompare);
// -> ['А', 'Б', 'Ё']

Note: Putting numbers in the custom alphabet can cause undefined behaviour.