Tablesorter sort table using relative dates column

Question

How do I use tablesorter so as to sort a table based on column that has relative dates. E.g.: I have something like:

2 days ago
5 days ago
10 days ago
1 weeks ago
3 weeks ago

And current sorting gives:

10 days ago
1 week ago
2 days ago
3 weeks ago
5 days ago

Desired Output:

2 days ago
5 days ago
10 days ago
1 week ago
3 weeks ago

PS: I am new to jQuery.

Answer 1

You can use one of the data libraries, like sugar or datejs.

This demo uses the sugar library to sort a column with that format.

Get the parsers from here

/*! Sugar (https://sugarjs.com/docs/#/DateParsing)
* demo: http://jsfiddle.net/Mottie/7z0ss5xn/
*/
$.tablesorter.addParser({
    id: "sugar",
    is: function() {
        return false;
    },
    format: function(s) {
        // Add support for sugar v2.0+
        var create = Date.create || Sugar.Date.create,
            date = create ? create(s) : s ? new Date(s) : s;
        return date instanceof Date && isFinite(date) ? date.getTime() : s;
    },
    type: "numeric"
});

/*! Datejs (http://www.datejs.com/)
* demo: http://jsfiddle.net/Mottie/zge0L2u6/
*/
$.tablesorter.addParser({
    id: "datejs",
    is: function() {
        return false;
    },
    format: function(s) {
        var date = Date.parse ? Date.parse(s) : s ? new Date(s) : s;
        return date instanceof Date && isFinite(date) ? date.getTime() : s;
    },
    type: "numeric"
});