Javascript - sort array of strings in a custom way

Question

I have an array of strings:

var players = [{Name: player1name, Surname: player1surname, Position: "Centre back"}, {Name: player2name, Surname: player2surname, Position: "Striker"}, {Name: player3name, Surname: player3surname, Position: "Full back"}, {Name: player4name, Surname: player4surname, Position: "Goalkeeper"}, {Name: player5name, Surname: player5surname, Position: "Midfielder"}, {Name: player6name, Surname: player6surname, Position: "Winger"}];

Order of an array items is not always the same. I want to sort that array so it goes like this: Goalkeeper, Full back, Centre back, Midfielder, Winger, Striker. I'm thinking about enums but I don't know how to use them in this situation.

Answer 1

You could take an object for the sort order and then sort by the difference.

 var players = ["Centre back", "Striker", "Full back", "Goalkeeper", "Midfielder", "Winger"], order = { Goalkeeper: 1, 'Full back': 2, 'Centre back': 3, Midfielder: 4, Winger: 5, Striker: 6 }; players.sort(function (a, b) { return order[a] - order[b]; }); console.log(players); 

Answer 2

There you go. You should use this approach. You need to create a ranking map and then sort by that map.

 let players = [ { "name": "Molla Wague", "position": "Centre-Back", "jerseyNumber": 13, "dateOfBirth": "1991-02-21", "nationality": "Mali", "contractUntil": "2018-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Heurelho Gomes", "position": "Keeper", "jerseyNumber": 1, "dateOfBirth": "1981-02-15", "nationality": "Brazil", "contractUntil": "2019-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Christian Kabasele", "position": "Centre-Back", "jerseyNumber": 27, "dateOfBirth": "1991-02-24", "nationality": "Belgium", "contractUntil": "2021-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "José Holebas", "position": "Left-Back", "jerseyNumber": 25, "dateOfBirth": "1984-06-27", "nationality": "Greece", "contractUntil": "2020-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Daryl Janmaat", "position": "Right-Back", "jerseyNumber": 2, "dateOfBirth": "1989-07-22", "nationality": "Netherlands", "contractUntil": "2020-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Étienne Capoue", "position": "Defensive Midfield", "jerseyNumber": 29, "dateOfBirth": "1988-07-11", "nationality": "France", "contractUntil": "2019-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Tom Cleverley", "position": "Central Midfield", "jerseyNumber": 8, "dateOfBirth": "1989-08-12", "nationality": "England", "contractUntil": "2022-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Roberto Pereyra", "position": "Attacking Midfield", "jerseyNumber": 37, "dateOfBirth": "1991-01-07", "nationality": "Argentina", "contractUntil": "2021-06-30", "marketValue": null }, { "name": "Troy Deeney", "position": "Centre-Forward", "jerseyNumber": 9, "dateOfBirth": "1988-06-29", "nationality": "England", "contractUntil": "2021-06-30", "marketValue": null } ]; const rankMap = { 'Keeper': 1, 'Centre-Back': 2, 'Right-Back': 3, 'Left-Back': 4, 'Defensive Midfield': 5, 'Central Midfield': 6, 'Attacking Midfield': 7, 'Right Wing': 8, 'Left Wing': 9, 'Centre-Forward': 10 }; players = players.sort((a, b) => rankMap[a.position] - rankMap[b.position]); console.log(players);