How do you sort an array on multiple columns?

Question

I have a multidimensional array. The primary array is an array of

[publicationID][publication_name][ownderID][owner_name] 

What I am trying to do is sort the array by owner_name and then by publication_name. I know in JavaScript you have Array.sort(), into which you can put a custom function, in my case i have:

function mysortfunction(a, b) {
    var x = a[3].toLowerCase();
    var y = b[3].toLowerCase();

    return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ? 1 : 0));
}

This is fine for just sorting on the one column, namely owner_name, but how do I modify it to sort on owner_name, then publication_name?

Answer 1

If owner names differ, sort by them. Otherwise, use publication name for tiebreaker.

function mysortfunction(a, b) {

  var o1 = a[3].toLowerCase();
  var o2 = b[3].toLowerCase();

  var p1 = a[1].toLowerCase();
  var p2 = b[1].toLowerCase();

  if (o1 < o2) return -1;
  if (o1 > o2) return 1;
  if (p1 < p2) return -1;
  if (p1 > p2) return 1;
  return 0;
}