JavaScript, How to do multi-level sorting if objects have multiple properties?

How to do multi-level sorting if objects have multiple properties?

For multi-level sorting, you can chain comparisons in your sorting function. This approach will evaluate each property in sequence, moving to the next property only if the previous one results in equality.

Here’s a general approach in JavaScript:

const array = [

  { name: "Alice", age: 25, salary: 50000 },

  { name: "Bob", age: 25, salary: 70000 },

  { name: "Charlie", age: 30, salary: 60000 },

  { name: "David", age: 25, salary: 50000 }

];

// Sort by age (ascending), then by salary (descending), and then by name (ascending)

array.sort((a, b) => {

  if (a.age !== b.age) {

    return a.age - b.age; // Sort by age (ascending)

  }

  if (a.salary !== b.salary) {

    return b.salary - a.salary; // Sort by salary (descending)

  }

  return a.name.localeCompare(b.name); // Sort by name (ascending)

});

console.log(array);

Explanation

Primary Sort - Sort by age in ascending order: a.age - b.age.

Secondary Sort - If age is the same, sort by salary in descending order: b.salary - a.salary.

Tertiary Sort - If both age and salary are the same, sort by name in ascending order: a.name.localeCompare(b.name).

Using a Dynamic Multi-Level Sort Function

If you have many properties or want a reusable function, you can create a dynamic multi-level sort function like this:

function multiLevelSort(array, ...sortCriteria) {

  return array.sort((a, b) => {

    for (const [property, order] of sortCriteria) {

      const direction = order === "asc" ? 1 : -1;

      if (a[property] < b[property]) return -1 * direction;

      if (a[property] > b[property]) return 1 * direction;

      // Continue to next property if values are equal

    }

    return 0; // All properties are equal

  });

}

const sortedArray = multiLevelSort(

  array,

  ["age", "asc"],       // Sort by age (ascending)

  ["salary", "desc"],    // Then by salary (descending)

  ["name", "asc"]        // Then by name (ascending)

);

console.log(sortedArray);

This multiLevelSort function takes an array and a list of [property, order] pairs, making it flexible to handle various sorting orders and properties.