Sort javascript array with non-numeric keys

Question

Here is my array :

var a = [];
a["P.M.L."] = 44;
a["P.CO."] = 56;
a["M.É.D."] = 10;

Now i am trying to sort the array so it looks like :

["M.É.D." : 10, "P.M.L." : 44, "P.CO." : 56]

I have tried many solutions and none of them have been successfull. I was wondering if one of you had any idea how to sort the array.

Answer 1

Simple solution will be:

a.sort(function(x, y) { 
    return x.name - y.name;
})

Answer 2

Taken straight from the MDN website :

a.sort(function (a, b) {
    if (a.name > b.name)
      return 1;
    if (a.name < b.name)
      return -1;
    // a must be equal to b
    return 0;
});

But this really isn't an array, so you'll have to restructure that into one.

Answer 3

As mentioned in comments, your issue here is not just the sorting but also how your data structure is set up. I think what you will actually want here is an array of objects, that looks something like this:

var a = [{name: "P.M.L", val: 44},
         {name: "P.CO.", val: 56},
         {name: "M.É.D.", val: 10}];

With this new way of organizing your data, you can sort a by the val property with the following code:

a.sort(function(x, y) {
    return x.val - y.val;
});