Search code examples
javascriptlocalestring-comparison

Javascript locale string comparison with String.prototype.valueOf

I have the following example:

class MyClass {
  constructor(name) {
    this.name = name;
  }

  toString() {
    return this.name;
  }

  valueOf() {
    return this.name;
  }
}

const list = [new MyClass("b"), new MyClass("ä")];

list.sort();
console.log(list.join());

list.sort(new Intl.Collator('de').compare);
console.log(list.join());

Here, the Collator is required to get the correct sort order, but I want to get rid of it and I want to be able to compare instances of MyClass with a simple myClass1 < myClass2. This should theoretically be possible by changing the valueOf function.

My question now is, is there any JavaScript built-in way to get a "locale" value of a string (similar to Intl.Collator or localeCompare) that I can return in my valueOf function to get the order right?

Solution

  • No, there is no such info. Basically, unless you use Intl with specified locale directly (as with Intl.Collator) or indirectly (as with localeCompare), you will compare codepoints based on browser implementation of strings which is, most likely, by UTF-16 code points.