Javascript-Opera 11.60和IE 8上的排序功能出现问题

Question

I am trying to sort objects by there properties. I have a problem on Opera and IE with my function. Till now, I have debugged the problem on Opera at this stage:

1. Open "Opera browser" and press cntr+shift+i. Choose the console.

2. Pass this code in the console and press shift+enter.

    var DataArray=["Other","Attitude","Attitude","Delivery/timings","General Performance","Personal Planning","Other"] DataArray=DataArray.sort(function(a,b) { return a<b; }); JSON.stringify(DataArray); 

You should get correct result like this:

["Personal Planning","Other","Other","General Performance","Delivery/timings","Attitude","Attitude"]

1. Now change the sort function in this way a>b like this and press enter+shift to exucute it.

    var DataArray=["Other","Attitude","Attitude","Delivery/timings","General Performance","Personal Planning","Other"] DataArray=DataArray.sort(function(a,b) { return a>b; }); JSON.stringify(DataArray); 

My result is:

["Attitude","Delivery/timings","Attitude","General Performance","Other","Other","Personal Planning"]

Note the first, the second and the third value?What is going on?

If you execute this in the console "Attitude"="Attitude" it returns true...

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: And the part with the IE:

CODE:

 var DataArray=['Other','Attitude','Attitude','Delivery/timings','General    Performance','Personal Planning','Other'];

 DataArray=DataArray.sort(function(a,b)
{
     return a<b;
 });

prompt('',DataArray);

Result(correct):Personal Planning,Other,Other,General Performance,Attitude,Attitude,Delivery/timings

CODE:

var DataArray=['Other','Attitude','Attitude','Delivery/timings','General Performance','Personal Planning','Other'];

    DataArray=DataArray.sort(function(a,b)
    {
        return a>b;
    });

    prompt('',DataArray);

RESULT (incorrect): Attitude,Attitude,Other,Delivery/timings,General Performance,Other,Personal Planning

SOLUTION:

sortableArray=sortableArray.sort(function(a,b)
                {
                    if(a.Category>b.Category)
                    {
                        return 1;
                    }

                    if(a.Category<b.Category)
                    {
                        return -1;
                    }

                    return 0;

                });

To sort in descending way the data use reverse() function.

Thank you for the help. Especially to @nnnnnn

Answer 1

This isn't a problem with any particular browser, it is a problem with not having read the .sort() function documentation . The callback you pass to .sort() is not supposed to return a boolean, it is supposed to return a number that is:

• negative if a comes before b
• 0 if a equals b
• positive if a comes after b

Answer 2

Your sorting function returns a boolean value, while it should return an integer. While 1 can be confused as true and 0 as false , this shouldn't be something that you rely your code logic on. The function should have 3 return cases :

• < 0 if a > b
• > 0 if a < b
• == 0 if a == b

So you should use sort your array like this :

  DataArray = DataArray.sort(function(a,b){
      return a>b ? 1 : a<b ? -1 : 0;          
  });

Here's a working demo .