Sort JavaScript object by key

Question

I need to sort JavaScript objects by key.

Hence the following:

{ 'b' : 'asdsad', 'c' : 'masdas', 'a' : 'dsfdsfsdf' }

Would become:

{ 'a' : 'dsfdsfsdf', 'b' : 'asdsad', 'c' : 'masdas' }

Answer 1

recursive sort, for nested object and arrays

function sortObjectKeys(obj){
    return Object.keys(obj).sort().reduce((acc,key)=>{
        if (Array.isArray(obj[key])){
            acc[key]=obj[key].map(sortObjectKeys);
        }
        if (typeof obj[key] === 'object'){
            acc[key]=sortObjectKeys(obj[key]);
        }
        else{
            acc[key]=obj[key];
        }
        return acc;
    },{});
}

// test it
sortObjectKeys({
    telephone: '069911234124',
    name: 'Lola',
    access: true,
    cars: [
        {name: 'Family', brand: 'Volvo', cc:1600},
        {
            name: 'City', brand: 'VW', cc:1200, 
            interior: {
                wheel: 'plastic',
                radio: 'blaupunkt'
            }
        },
        {
            cc:2600, name: 'Killer', brand: 'Plymouth',
            interior: {
                wheel: 'wooden',
                radio: 'earache!'
            }
        },
    ]
});

Answer 2

Guys I'm figuratively shocked! Sure all answers are somewhat old, but no one did even mention the stability in sorting! So bear with me I'll try my best to answer the question itself and go into details here. So I'm going to apologize now it will be a lot to read.

Since it is 2018 I will only use ES6, the Polyfills are all available at the MDN docs, which I will link at the given part.

---

Answer to the question:

If your keys are only numbers then you can safely use Object.keys() together with Array.prototype.reduce() to return the sorted object:

// Only numbers to show it will be sorted.
const testObj = {
  '2000': 'Articel1',
  '4000': 'Articel2',
  '1000': 'Articel3',
  '3000': 'Articel4',
};

// I'll explain what reduces does after the answer.
console.log(Object.keys(testObj).reduce((accumulator, currentValue) => {
  accumulator[currentValue] = testObj[currentValue];
  return accumulator;
}, {}));

/**
 * expected output:
 * {
 * '1000': 'Articel3',
 * '2000': 'Articel1',
 * '3000': 'Articel4',
 * '4000': 'Articel2' 
 *  } 
 */

// if needed here is the one liner:
console.log(Object.keys(testObj).reduce((a, c) => (a[c] = testObj[c], a), {}));

However if you are working with strings I highly recommend chaining Array.prototype.sort() into all of this:

// String example
const testObj = {
  'a1d78eg8fdg387fg38': 'Articel1',
  'z12989dh89h31d9h39': 'Articel2',
  'f1203391dhj32189h2': 'Articel3',
  'b10939hd83f9032003': 'Articel4',
};
// Chained sort into all of this.
console.log(Object.keys(testObj).sort().reduce((accumulator, currentValue) => {
  accumulator[currentValue] = testObj[currentValue];
  return accumulator;
}, {}));

/**
 * expected output:   
 * { 
 * a1d78eg8fdg387fg38: 'Articel1',
 * b10939hd83f9032003: 'Articel4',
 * f1203391dhj32189h2: 'Articel3',
 * z12989dh89h31d9h39: 'Articel2' 
 * }
 */

// again the one liner:
console.log(Object.keys(testObj).sort().reduce((a, c) => (a[c] = testObj[c], a), {}));

If someone is wondering what reduce does:

// Will return Keys of object as an array (sorted if only numbers or single strings like a,b,c).
Object.keys(testObj)

// Chaining reduce to the returned array from Object.keys().
// Array.prototype.reduce() takes one callback 
// (and another param look at the last line) and passes 4 arguments to it: 
// accumulator, currentValue, currentIndex and array
.reduce((accumulator, currentValue) => {

  // setting the accumulator (sorted new object) with the actual property from old (unsorted) object.
  accumulator[currentValue] = testObj[currentValue];

  // returning the newly sorted object for the next element in array.
  return accumulator;

  // the empty object {} ist the initial value for  Array.prototype.reduce().
}, {});

If needed here is the explanation for the one liner:

Object.keys(testObj).reduce(

  // Arrow function as callback parameter.
  (a, c) => 

  // parenthesis return! so we can safe the return and write only (..., a);
  (a[c] = testObj[c], a)

  // initial value for reduce.
  ,{}
);

• Docs for reduce: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/Reduce
• Why use parenthesis on JavaScript return statements: http://jamesknelson.com/javascript-return-parenthesis/

---

Why Sorting is a bit complicated:

In short Object.keys() will return an array with the same order as we get with a normal loop:

const object1 = {
  a: 'somestring',
  b: 42,
  c: false
};

console.log(Object.keys(object1));
// expected output: Array ["a", "b", "c"]

Object.keys() returns an array whose elements are strings corresponding to the enumerable properties found directly upon object. The ordering of the properties is the same as that given by looping over the properties of the object manually.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/keys

Sidenote - you can use Object.keys() on arrays as well, keep in mind the index will be returned:

// simple array
const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
console.log(Object.keys(arr)); // console: ['0', '1', '2']

But it is not as easy at shown by those examples, real world objects may contain numbers and alphabetical characters or even symbols (please don't do it).

Here is an example with all of them in one object:

// This is just to show what happens, please don't use symbols in keys.
const testObj = {
  '1asc': '4444',
  1000: 'a',
  b: '1231',
  '#01010101010': 'asd',
  2: 'c'
};

console.log(Object.keys(testObj));
// output: [ '2', '1000', '1asc', 'b', '#01010101010' ]

Now if we use Array.prototype.sort() on the array above the output changes:

console.log(Object.keys(testObj).sort());
// output: [ '#01010101010', '1000', '1asc', '2', 'b' ]

Here is a quote from the docs:

The sort() method sorts the elements of an array in place and returns the array. The sort is not necessarily stable. The default sort order is according to string Unicode code points.

The time and space complexity of the sort cannot be guaranteed as it is implementation dependent.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/sort

You have to make sure that one of them returns the desired output for you. In reallife examples people tend to mix up things expecially if you use different information inputs like APIs and Databases together.

---

So what's the big deal?

Well there are two articles which every programmer should understand:

In-place algorithm:

In computer science, an in-place algorithm is an algorithm which transforms input using no auxiliary data structure. However a small amount of extra storage space is allowed for auxiliary variables. The input is usually overwritten by the output as the algorithm executes. In-place algorithm updates input sequence only through replacement or swapping of elements. An algorithm which is not in-place is sometimes called not-in-place or out-of-place.

So basically our old array will be overwritten! This is important if you want to keep the old array for other reasons. So keep this in mind.

Sorting algorithm

Stable sort algorithms sort identical elements in the same order that they appear in the input. When sorting some kinds of data, only part of the data is examined when determining the sort order. For example, in the card sorting example to the right, the cards are being sorted by their rank, and their suit is being ignored. This allows the possibility of multiple different correctly sorted versions of the original list. Stable sorting algorithms choose one of these, according to the following rule: if two items compare as equal, like the two 5 cards, then their relative order will be preserved, so that if one came before the other in the input, it will also come before the other in the output.

An example of stable sort on playing cards. When the cards are sorted by rank with a stable sort, the two 5s must remain in the same order in the sorted output that they were originally in. When they are sorted with a non-stable sort, the 5s may end up in the opposite order in the sorted output.

This shows that the sorting is right but it changed. So in the real world even if the sorting is correct we have to make sure that we get what we expect! This is super important keep this in mind as well. For more JavaScript examples look into the Array.prototype.sort() - docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/sort

Answer 3

JavaScript objects¹ are not ordered. It is meaningless to try to "sort" them. If you want to iterate over an object's properties, you can sort the keys and then retrieve the associated values:

var myObj = {
    'b': 'asdsadfd',
    'c': 'masdasaf',
    'a': 'dsfdsfsdf'
  },
  keys = [],
  k, i, len;

for (k in myObj) {
  if (myObj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
    keys.push(k);
  }
}

keys.sort();

len = keys.length;

for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
  k = keys[i];
  console.log(k + ':' + myObj[k]);
}

---

Alternate implementation using Object.keys fanciness:

var myObj = {
    'b': 'asdsadfd',
    'c': 'masdasaf',
    'a': 'dsfdsfsdf'
  },
  keys = Object.keys(myObj),
  i, len = keys.length;

keys.sort();

for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
  k = keys[i];
  console.log(k + ':' + myObj[k]);
}

---

^{1Not to be pedantic, but there's no such thing as a JSON object.}

Answer 4

Just to simplify it and make it more clear the answer from Matt Ball

//your object
var myObj = {
    b : 'asdsadfd',
    c : 'masdasaf',
    a : 'dsfdsfsdf'
  };

//fixed code
var keys = [];
for (var k in myObj) {
  if (myObj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
    keys.push(k);
  }
}
keys.sort();
for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
  k = keys[i];
  alert(k + ':' + myObj[k]);
}

Answer 5

As already mentioned, objects are unordered.

However...

You may find this idiom useful:

var o = { 'b' : 'asdsad', 'c' : 'masdas', 'a' : 'dsfdsfsdf' };

var kv = [];

for (var k in o) {
  kv.push([k, o[k]]);
}

kv.sort()

You can then iterate through kv and do whatever you wish.

> kv.sort()
[ [ 'a', 'dsfdsfsdf' ],
  [ 'b', 'asdsad' ],
  [ 'c', 'masdas' ] ]

Answer 6

I transfered some Java enums to javascript objects.

These objects returned correct arrays for me. if object keys are mixed type (string, int, char), there is a problem.

var Helper = {
    isEmpty: function (obj) {
        return !obj || obj === null || obj === undefined || Array.isArray(obj) && obj.length === 0;
    },

    isObject: function (obj) {
        return (typeof obj === 'object');
    },

    sortObjectKeys: function (object) {
        return Object.keys(object)
            .sort(function (a, b) {
                c = a - b;
                return c
            });
    },
    containsItem: function (arr, item) {
        if (arr && Array.isArray(arr)) {
            return arr.indexOf(item) > -1;
        } else {
            return arr === item;
        }
    },

    pushArray: function (arr1, arr2) {
        if (arr1 && arr2 && Array.isArray(arr1)) {
            arr1.push.apply(arr1, Array.isArray(arr2) ? arr2 : [arr2]);
        }
    }
};

function TypeHelper() {
    var _types = arguments[0],
        _defTypeIndex = 0,
        _currentType,
        _value;

    if (arguments.length == 2) {
        _defTypeIndex = arguments[1];
    }

    Object.defineProperties(this, {
        Key: {
            get: function () {
                return _currentType;
            },
            set: function (val) {
                _currentType.setType(val, true);
            },
            enumerable: true
        },
        Value: {
            get: function () {
                return _types[_currentType];
            },
            set: function (val) {
                _value.setType(val, false);
            },
            enumerable: true
        }
    });

    this.getAsList = function (keys) {
        var list = [];
        Helper.sortObjectKeys(_types).forEach(function (key, idx, array) {
            if (key && _types[key]) {

                if (!Helper.isEmpty(keys) && Helper.containsItem(keys, key) || Helper.isEmpty(keys)) {
                    var json = {};
                    json.Key = key;
                    json.Value = _types[key];
                    Helper.pushArray(list, json);
                }
            }
        });
        return list;
    };

    this.setType = function (value, isKey) {
        if (!Helper.isEmpty(value)) {
            Object.keys(_types).forEach(function (key, idx, array) {
                if (Helper.isObject(value)) {
                    if (value && value.Key == key) {
                        _currentType = key;
                    }
                } else if (isKey) {
                    if (value && value.toString() == key.toString()) {
                        _currentType = key;
                    }
                } else if (value && value.toString() == _types[key]) {
                    _currentType = key;
                }
            });
        } else {
            this.setDefaultType();
        }
        return isKey ? _types[_currentType] : _currentType;
    };

    this.setTypeByIndex = function (index) {
        var keys = Helper.sortObjectKeys(_types);
        for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
            if (index === i) {
                _currentType = keys[index];
                break;
            }
        }
    };

    this.setDefaultType = function () {
        this.setTypeByIndex(_defTypeIndex);
    };

    this.setDefaultType();
}


var TypeA = {
    "-1": "Any",
    "2": "2L",
    "100": "100L",
    "200": "200L",
    "1000": "1000L"
};

var TypeB = {
    "U": "Any",
    "W": "1L",
    "V": "2L",
    "A": "100L",
    "Z": "200L",
    "K": "1000L"
};
console.log('keys of TypeA', Helper.sortObjectKeys(TypeA));//keys of TypeA ["-1", "2", "100", "200", "1000"]

console.log('keys of TypeB', Helper.sortObjectKeys(TypeB));//keys of TypeB ["U", "W", "V", "A", "Z", "K"]

var objectTypeA = new TypeHelper(TypeA),
    objectTypeB = new TypeHelper(TypeB);

console.log('list of objectA = ', objectTypeA.getAsList());
console.log('list of objectB = ', objectTypeB.getAsList());

Types:

var TypeA = {
    "-1": "Any",
    "2": "2L",
    "100": "100L",
    "200": "200L",
    "1000": "1000L"
};

var TypeB = {
    "U": "Any",
    "W": "1L",
    "V": "2L",
    "A": "100L",
    "Z": "200L",
    "K": "1000L"
};


Sorted Keys(output):

Key list of TypeA -> ["-1", "2", "100", "200", "1000"]

Key list of TypeB -> ["U", "W", "V", "A", "Z", "K"]