Tablesorter- Sort by Last name, ignore middle/preffered name

Question

I am currently using Mottie's version of tablesorter to build a directory. I have a field of name (combines firstname and lastname) in the same table cell. Most data entries are simple (Firstname LastName), I have the code set up so that it sorts by swapping the last and first name using:

textExtraction: { 0: function(node) { // swap first and last name for sorting return $.trim($(node).text() || '').replace(/(\w+)\s(\w+)/g,'$2 $1'); } }

Unfortuntately, there are a few people who have a preferred first name and will appear in the table like:

[FirstName (PreferredName) LastName]

which the sorting ends up sorting by just the first name.

For example it sorts like this:

Alex Adams
Robert (Bob) Rover
Bruce Black
Catelyn Cruz
Adam (Dave) Francis
Elaine Evans

But I would like it to just use last name such as:

Alex Adams
Bruce Black
Catelyn Cruz
Elaine Evans
Adam (Dave) Francis
Robert (Bob) Rover

I don't really have a full grasp on regex so I'm unsure if there is a simple way to make it so that it always sorts on the Lastname.

Any help (including a bit of an explanation on how this replace.(regex) is working, would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Answer 1

I wouldn't use the textExtraction method since it applies to ALL table cells.

Instead, try this parser. It uses array manipulation to move the last name to the front (demo)

$(function() {

  $.tablesorter.addParser({
    id: 'last-name',
    is: function() {
      return false;
    },
    format: function(str) {
      var parts = (str || '').split(/\s+/),
        last = parts.pop();
      parts.unshift(last);
      return parts.join(' ');
    },
    // set type, either numeric or text
    type: 'text'
  });

  $('table').tablesorter({
    theme: 'blue'
  });
});

Don't forget to add the class name to set the parser:

<th class="sorter-last-name">Name</th>