JavaScript column sorting

First sort it alphabetically ascending (by the 'default' sort - or sort() without passing a function), then sort it numerically. That said, I'm sure there is a better way:

function sortNumber(a, b) { return a - b; } var arr = [ "v07.00", "CANCELLED", "v06.*", "v06.04.01", "INDEPENDENT", "v06.00", "v06.00.01", "v06.01", "v06.02", "v06.00.xx", "v06.03", "v06.04", "ON HOLD", "v06.06", "v06.05", "v06.05.01", "v06.05.02", "v06.07", ]; alert(arr.sort().sort(sortNumber).join("\n")); 

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/karim79/rY8Du/1/

Assuming your "column values" are in an Array, use Array.sort with a custom compareFunction to define the ordering as you want.

var columnValues = [ "CANCELLED", "v06.*", "INDEPENDENT", "v06.00", "v06.00.01", "v06.01", "v06.02", "v06.00.xx", "v06.03", "v06.04", "ON HOLD", "v06.06", "v06.05", "v06.05.01", "v06.04.01", "v06.05.02", "v06.07", "v07.00" ]; columnValues.sort(function(a, b) { if (a is less than b by some ordering criterion) return -1; if (a is greater than b by the ordering criterion) return 1; // a must be equal to b return 0; }); 

Edit here's a long-winded compareFunction that seems to do what you want, at least for the example you give:

function(a, b) { if (a==b) { return 0; } if (a.length && a[0]=='v' && b.length && b[0]=='v') { // Both strings are version strings. // Do special case version matching. var aParts = a.substring(1).split('.'), bParts = b.substring(1).split('.'), l = Math.max(a.length, b.length), i = 0; for (;i<l;i++) { var aPart = aParts[i], bPart = bParts[i]; if (aPart == '*' && bPart != '*') { return -1; } if (bPart == '*' && aPart != '*') { return 1; } if (aPart == 'xx' && bPart != 'xx') { return 1; } if (bPart == 'xx' && aPart != 'xx') { return -1; } var aNum = parseInt(aPart,10), bNum = parseInt(bPart,10); if (aNum < bNum) { return -1; } if (aNum > bNum) { return 1; } // Same so far, try next part } // One must be longer than the other. return (aParts.length < bParts.length) ? -1 : 1 } // Simple alphabetic comparison if (a < b) return -1; if (a > b) return 1; } 

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/daybarr/h6nmg/

Once you get the column into an array you can use any natural sort method, but you'll need to write a couple extra lines to sort the '*' the way you want.

Here is one sample-

function natSort(as, bs){ var a, b, a1, b1, i= 0, L, rx= /(\d+)|(\D+)/g, rd= /\d/; if(isFinite(as) && isFinite(bs)) return as - bs; a= String(as).toLowerCase(); b= String(bs).toLowerCase(); if(a=== b) return 0; if(!(rd.test(a) && rd.test(b))) return a> b? 1: -1; a=a.replace('*','0'); // or possibly sort any non alpha nums first: b=b.replace('*','0'); // replace(/[^\w\.]/g,'0'); a= a.match(rx); b= b.match(rx); L= a.length> b.length? b.length: a.length; while(i < L){ a1= a[i]; b1= b[i++]; if(a1!== b1){ if(isFinite(a1) && isFinite(b1)){ if(a1.charAt(0)=== "0") a1= "." + a1; if(b1.charAt(0)=== "0") b1= "." + b1; return a1 - b1; } else return a1> b1? 1: -1; } } return a.length - b.length; } var v= "v06.05,ON HOLD,v07.00,INDEPENDENT,v06.07,v06.03,v06.*,v06.05.02,v06.05.01,"+ "v06.00.xx,v06.00,CANCELLED,v06.02,v06.04,v06.00.01,v06.06,v06.01,v06.04.01"; v=v.split(/, */); 'before sort:\n'+v.join(',\n')+'\n\nafter sort:\n'+ v.sort(natSort).join(',\n') /* returned value: before sort: v06.05, ON HOLD, v07.00, INDEPENDENT, v06.07, v06.03, v06.*, v06.05.02, v06.05.01, v06.00.xx, v06.00, CANCELLED, v06.02, v06.04, v06.00.01, v06.06, v06.01, v06.04.01 after sort: CANCELLED, INDEPENDENT, ON HOLD, v06.*, v06.00, v06.00.01, v06.00.xx, v06.01, v06.02, v06.03, v06.04, v06.04.01, v06.05, v06.05.01, v06.05.02, v06.06, v06.07, v07.00 */