1318

Say I have an array of a few objects:

var array = [{id: 1, date: Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM}, {id: 2, date: Mar 8 2012 08:00:00 AM}];

How can I sort this array by the date element in order from the date closest to the current date and time down? Keep in mind that the array may have many objects, but for the sake of simplicity I used 2.

Would I use the sort function and a custom comparator?

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5
  • If you use Date constructor, check this first stackoverflow.com/questions/5619202/… Commented Aug 17, 2019 at 9:06
  • 2
    the quickest way is to use the isomorphic sort-array module which works natively in both browser and node, supporting any type of input, computed fields and custom sort orders. Commented Oct 21, 2019 at 20:28
  • 3
    It seems like this question hasn't been answered. None of the answers below explain how to " order from the date closest to the current date". Commented Nov 18, 2021 at 16:15
  • not directly related, but if someone is trying to sort data fetched from a DB, this should be done in the SQL query. Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 12:28
  • @Fed No it shouldn't. That depends entirely on the situation. There are plenty of situations where sorting on the client makes sense even if this particular piece of data comes from a database. Commented Jun 26, 2023 at 14:05

25 Answers 25

Reset to default
2233

Simplest Answer

array.sort(function(a,b){
  // Turn your strings into dates, and then subtract them
  // to get a value that is either negative, positive, or zero.
  return new Date(b.date) - new Date(a.date);
});

More Generic Answer

array.sort(function(o1,o2){
  if (sort_o1_before_o2)    return -1;
  else if(sort_o1_after_o2) return  1;
  else                      return  0;
});

Or more tersely:

array.sort(function(o1,o2){
  return sort_o1_before_o2 ? -1 : sort_o1_after_o2 ? 1 : 0;
});

Generic, Powerful Answer

Define a custom non-enumerable sortBy function using a Schwartzian transform on all arrays :

(function(){
  if (typeof Object.defineProperty === 'function'){
    try{Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype,'sortBy',{value:sb}); }catch(e){}
  }
  if (!Array.prototype.sortBy) Array.prototype.sortBy = sb;

  function sb(f){
    for (var i=this.length;i;){
      var o = this[--i];
      this[i] = [].concat(f.call(o,o,i),o);
    }
    this.sort(function(a,b){
      for (var i=0,len=a.length;i<len;++i){
        if (a[i]!=b[i]) return a[i]<b[i]?-1:1;
      }
      return 0;
    });
    for (var i=this.length;i;){
      this[--i]=this[i][this[i].length-1];
    }
    return this;
  }
})();

Use it like so:

array.sortBy(function(o){ return o.date });

If your date is not directly comparable, make a comparable date out of it, e.g.

array.sortBy(function(o){ return new Date( o.date ) });

You can also use this to sort by multiple criteria if you return an array of values:

// Sort by date, then score (reversed), then name
array.sortBy(function(o){ return [ o.date, -o.score, o.name ] };

See http://phrogz.net/JS/Array.prototype.sortBy.js for more details.

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17 Comments

Why just not return b-a; in the Simple Answer?
Do not recommend creating new Date objects inside the sort method. Have hit production performance issues specifically for that reason. Do not allocate memory (and GC) inside a sort method.
the first eg syntax gives error on angular7 : The left-hand side of an arithmetic operation must be of type 'any', 'number', 'bigint' or an enum type
@Sireini Depends on the types/formatting of the date properties, but if it's a standard "Date" object, then @Gal's response is fastest & no allocations. The a-b comment is actually very slow in Chrome (jsperf.com/date-sort-mm/1). If the dates are just ISO strings, it's fastest to just compare them a > b ? 1 : a < b ? -1 : 0.
If you are using TS and want to sort object by their date property, you can use the first option like this: return +b.date - +a.date; for descending order, and reversing the order of 'a' & 'b' for ascending order
|
386

@Phrogz answers are both great, but here is a great, more concise answer:

array.sort(function(a,b) { return a.getTime() - b.getTime() });

Using the arrow function way

array.sort((a,b) => a.getTime() - b.getTime());

found here: Sort date in Javascript

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6 Comments

Doing the math directly a - b would also work. So, array.sort((a, b) => a - b) (es6)
a.getTime() - b.getTime() is considerably faster then a - b
concise, concise, if you only have defined dates...
To clarify, subtracting two Date objects is sufficient. The - operator calls valueOf method of the object for subtraction; and Date.valueOf returns the same value as Date.getTime.
TypeScript throws an error on the simple "a - b" solution, but it works well with the getTime approach.
|
128

After correcting the JSON this should work for you now:

var array = [{id: 1, date:'Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM'}, {id: 2, date:'Mar 8 2012 08:00:00 AM'}];


array.sort(function(a, b) {
    var c = new Date(a.date);
    var d = new Date(b.date);
    return c-d;
});
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Comments

87

Above answers are all good 😊, here is my implementation of sorting date in ES6 way, I'm using Date.parse (is global Date object) this will convert string representation of Date to number of milliseconds. Instead of instantiating new Date object every time.

var array = ["2021-08-10T07:24:30.087+0000" , "2021-09-30T07:24:30.087+0000", "2021-10-13T07:24:30.087+0000"];

// sorting with latest date
array.sort((a,b) => Date.parse(b) - Date.parse(a))
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4 Comments

The answer snippet doesn't fit for the question. you can update your answer to match the question or delete it.
This sorts a regular array of dates, not an array of objects with date properties, which was what the question was about.
this is the only answer that works with TypeScript for me (also see the answer here: stackoverflow.com/a/54634547/827129)
Just a warning that this doesn't seem to work with UK dates (in the format dd/mm/yyyy). e.g. Date.parse("23/05/2023") = NaN
66

Your data needs some corrections:

var array = [{id: 1, date: "Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM"},{id: 2, date: "Mar 28 2012 08:00:00 AM"}];

After correcting the data, you can use this piece of code:

function sortFunction(a,b){  
    var dateA = new Date(a.date).getTime();
    var dateB = new Date(b.date).getTime();
    return dateA > dateB ? 1 : -1;  
}; 

var array = [{id: 1, date: "Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM"},{id: 2, date: "Mar 28 2012 08:00:00 AM"}];
array.sort(sortFunction);​
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5 Comments

Don't forget to return 0 where necessary!
For anyone using Typescript, I was able to sort by date using this function, while the other ones using the date subtraction failed.
What is the differance? I see different types of quotes and a space, but that shouldn't matter, or am I missing something?
This is a TERRIBLE answer. In Firefox you will end up getting a list sorted even if all of the values are null. You need to handle the case of zero, otherwise the sort is not guaranteed to be stable.
@Gigabit The answer itself is not terrible, it works. The usefulness fully depends on your usecase. For my usecase, I know in advance that all the dates are different and not null, which is why the 0 case will never happen.
30

I recommend GitHub: Array sortBy - a best implementation of sortBy method which uses the Schwartzian transform

But for now we are going to try this approach Gist: sortBy-old.js.
Let's create a method to sort arrays being able to arrange objects by some property.

Creating the sorting function

var sortBy = (function () {
  var toString = Object.prototype.toString,
      // default parser function
      parse = function (x) { return x; },
      // gets the item to be sorted
      getItem = function (x) {
        var isObject = x != null && typeof x === "object";
        var isProp = isObject && this.prop in x;
        return this.parser(isProp ? x[this.prop] : x);
      };
      
  /**
   * Sorts an array of elements.
   *
   * @param {Array} array: the collection to sort
   * @param {Object} cfg: the configuration options
   * @property {String}   cfg.prop: property name (if it is an Array of objects)
   * @property {Boolean}  cfg.desc: determines whether the sort is descending
   * @property {Function} cfg.parser: function to parse the items to expected type
   * @return {Array}
   */
  return function sortby (array, cfg) {
    if (!(array instanceof Array && array.length)) return [];
    if (toString.call(cfg) !== "[object Object]") cfg = {};
    if (typeof cfg.parser !== "function") cfg.parser = parse;
    cfg.desc = !!cfg.desc ? -1 : 1;
    return array.sort(function (a, b) {
      a = getItem.call(cfg, a);
      b = getItem.call(cfg, b);
      return cfg.desc * (a < b ? -1 : +(a > b));
    });
  };
  
}());

Setting unsorted data

var data = [
  {date: "2011-11-14T17:25:45Z", quantity: 2, total: 200, tip: 0,   type: "cash"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:28:54Z", quantity: 1, total: 300, tip: 200, type: "visa"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:30:43Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T17:22:59Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:53:41Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:48:46Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-31T17:29:52Z", quantity: 1, total: 200, tip: 100, type: "visa"},
  {date: "2011-11-01T16:17:54Z", quantity: 2, total: 190, tip: 100, type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:58:03Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:20:19Z", quantity: 2, total: 190, tip: 100, type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T17:07:21Z", quantity: 2, total: 90,  tip: 0,   type: "tab"},
  {date: "2011-11-14T16:54:06Z", quantity: 1, total: 100, tip: 0,   type: "cash"}
];

Using it

Finally, we arrange the array, by "date" property as string

//sort the object by a property (ascending)
//sorting takes into account uppercase and lowercase
sortBy(data, { prop: "date" });

If you want to ignore letter case, set the "parser" callback:

//sort the object by a property (descending)
//sorting ignores uppercase and lowercase
sortBy(data, {
    prop: "date",
    desc: true,
    parser: function (item) {
        //ignore case sensitive
        return item.toUpperCase();
    }
});

If you want to treat the "date" field as Date type:

//sort the object by a property (ascending)
//sorting parses each item to Date type
sortBy(data, {
    prop: "date",
    parser: function (item) {
        return new Date(item);
    }
});

Here you can play with the above example:
jsbin.com/lesebi

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1 Comment

IE11 had an issue with the line: if (toString.call(cfg) !== "[object Object]") cfg = {}; If you replace it with if (Object.prototype.toString.call(cfg) !== "[object Object]") cfg = {}; you will be all good with IE11 as well.
21

This should do when your date is in this format (dd/mm/yyyy).

  sortByDate(arr) {
    arr.sort(function(a,b){
      return Number(new Date(a.readableDate)) - Number(new Date(b.readableDate));
    });

    return arr;
  }

Then call sortByDate(myArr);

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Comments

20

arr is an array of object and each object has date_prop which is a date. You can sort it in descending/decreasing order like this

 arr = arr.sort(function (a, b) {
      var dateA = new Date(a.date_prop).getTime();
      var dateB = new Date(b.date_prop).getTime();
      return dateA < dateB ? 1 : -1; // ? -1 : 1 for ascending/increasing order
    });
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2 Comments

You have to return 0 if dates are same
That return with 0 is more production-ready :) return dateA === dateB ? 0 : dateA - dateB;
17

You could use sortBy in underscore js.

http://underscorejs.org/#sortBy

Sample:

var log = [{date: '2016-01-16T05:23:38+00:00', other: 'sample'}, 
           {date: '2016-01-13T05:23:38+00:00',other: 'sample'}, 
           {date: '2016-01-15T11:23:38+00:00', other: 'sample'}];

console.log(_.sortBy(log, 'date'));
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Comments

15

With ES6 arrow functions, you can further write just one line of concise code (excluding variable declaration).

Eg.:

var isDescending = true; //set to false for ascending
console.log(["8/2/2020","8/1/2020","8/13/2020", "8/2/2020"].sort((a,b) => isDescending ? new Date(b).getTime() - new Date(a).getTime() : new Date(a).getTime() - new Date(b).getTime()));

Since time does not exists with the above dates, the Date object will consider following default time for sorting:

00:00:00

The code will work for both ascending and descending sort. Just change the value of isDescending variable as required.

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Comments

15

Strings with dates are comparable in JavaScript (if they are syntactically the same), e.g.:

'2020-12-01' < '2020-12-02' == true

This means you can use this expression in a custom sort function:

var arr = [{id:1, date:'2020-12-01'}, {id:1, date:'2020-12-15'}, {id:1, date:'2020-12-12'}]

function sortByDate(a, b) {
    if (a.date < b.date) {
        return 1;
    }
    if (a.date > b.date) {
        return -1;
    }
    return 0;
}

const sorted = arr.sort(sortByDate);
console.log(sorted);

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Comments

15

Simple one line solution for me to sort dates :

sort((a, b) => (a < b ? 1 : -1))
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3 Comments

sort is a tri-state. It should return -1,0,1 and returning anything less than that will lead to odd behavior from sort algorithms.
even for sorting dates ? This worked fine for me.
Yes, even for dates. Some algorithms expect to be able to call the callback at the end of the sort and get 0 for set of values in sequence as a sign that sorting is done. This will break them.
9

I'm going to add this here, as some uses may not be able to work out how to invert this sorting method.

To sort by 'coming up', we can simply swap a & b, like so:

your_array.sort ( (a, b) => {
      return new Date(a.DateTime) - new Date(b.DateTime);
});

Notice that a is now on the left hand side, and b is on the right, :D!

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Comments

9

i was able to achieve sorting using below lines:

array.sort(function(a, b)
{
   if (a.DueDate > b.DueDate) return 1;
   if (a.DueDate < b.DueDate) return -1;
})
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Comments

8

I personally use following approach to sort dates.

let array = ["July 11, 1960", "February 1, 1974", "July 11, 1615", "October 18, 1851", "November 12, 1995"];

array.sort(function(date1, date2) {
   date1 = new Date(date1);
   date2 = new Date(date2);
   if (date1 > date2) return 1;
   if (date1 < date2) return -1;
})
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Comments

6 
Adding absolute will give better results

var datesArray =[
      {"some":"data1","date": "2018-06-30T13:40:31.493Z"},
      {"some":"data2","date": "2018-07-04T13:40:31.493Z"},
      {"some":"data3","date": "2018-06-27T13:40:54.394Z"}
   ]

var sortedJsObjects = datesArray.sort(function(a,b){ 
    return Math.abs(new Date(a.date) - new Date(b.date)) 
});
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1 Comment

Where is the comparison with the current date?
6

Here is the shortest way to solve your problem.

  var array = [{id: 1, date: 'Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM'}, {id: 2, date: 'Mar 8 2012 08:00:00 AM'}];

  var sortedArray = array.sort((a,b) => Date.parse(new Date(a.date)) - Date.parse(new Date(b.date)));
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1 Comment

Will be more accurate if you parse only data not new date: Date.parse(a.date)
5 
var array = [
  {id: 1, date: new Date("Mar 12 2012 10:00:00 AM")},
  {id: 2, date: new Date("Mar 8 2012 08:00:00 AM")}
];

array.sort((a, b) => {
  return a.date - b.date;
});

console.log(array);

// Solution 2

const sortedAsc = array .sort(
  (objA, objB) => Number(objA.date) - Number(objB.date),
);
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Comments

4

Thank you Ganesh Sanap. sorting items by date field from old to new. Use it

 myArray = [{transport: "Air",
             load: "Vatican Vaticano",
             created: "01/31/2020"},
            {transport: "Air",
             load: "Paris",
             created: "01/30/2020"}] 

        myAarray.sort(function(a, b) {
            var c = new Date(a.created);
            var d = new Date(b.created);
            return c-d;
        });
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2 Comments

What is the reason minus?
c and d dates get converted to Timestamps and minus is used to compare these values. Here it is the documentation of sort and explanation of compare method used in sort: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/… I hope it helps :)
3

I have just taken the Schwartzian transform depicted above and made as function. It takes an array, the sorting function and a boolean as input:

function schwartzianSort(array,f,asc){
    for (var i=array.length;i;){
      var o = array[--i];
      array[i] = [].concat(f.call(o,o,i),o);
    }
    array.sort(function(a,b){
      for (var i=0,len=a.length;i<len;++i){
        if (a[i]!=b[i]) return a[i]<b[i]?asc?-1:1:1;
      }
      return 0;
    });
    for (var i=array.length;i;){
      array[--i]=array[i][array[i].length-1];
    }
    return array;
  }


function schwartzianSort(array, f, asc) {
  for (var i = array.length; i;) {
    var o = array[--i];
    array[i] = [].concat(f.call(o, o, i), o);
  }
  array.sort(function(a, b) {
    for (var i = 0, len = a.length; i < len; ++i) {
      if (a[i] != b[i]) return a[i] < b[i] ? asc ? -1 : 1 : 1;
    }
    return 0;
  });
  for (var i = array.length; i;) {
    array[--i] = array[i][array[i].length - 1];
  }
  return array;
}

arr = []
arr.push({
  date: new Date(1494434112806)
})
arr.push({
  date: new Date(1494434118181)
})
arr.push({
  date: new Date(1494434127341)
})

console.log(JSON.stringify(arr));

arr = schwartzianSort(arr, function(o) {
  return o.date
}, false)
console.log("DESC", JSON.stringify(arr));

arr = schwartzianSort(arr, function(o) {
  return o.date
}, true)
console.log("ASC", JSON.stringify(arr));

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Comments

3 
["12 Jan 2018" , "1 Dec 2018", "04 May 2018"].sort(function(a,b) {
    return new Date(a).getTime() - new Date(b).getTime()
})
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2 Comments

Please briefly explain your answer and check the formatting of your code.
Will fail for old dates.
2

For anyone who is wanting to sort by date (UK format), I used the following:

//Sort by day, then month, then year
for(i=0;i<=2; i++){
    dataCourses.sort(function(a, b){

        a = a.lastAccessed.split("/");
        b = b.lastAccessed.split("/");

        return a[i]>b[i] ? -1 : a[i]<b[i] ? 1 : 0;
    }); 
}
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Comments

2

If like me you have an array with dates formatted like YYYY[-MM[-DD]] where you'd like to order more specific dates before less specific ones, I came up with this handy function:

function sortByDateSpecificity(a, b) {
  const aLength = a.date.length
  const bLength = b.date.length
  const aDate = a.date + (aLength < 10 ? '-12-31'.slice(-10 + aLength) : '')
  const bDate = b.date + (bLength < 10 ? '-12-31'.slice(-10 + bLength) : '')
  return new Date(aDate) - new Date(bDate)
}
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Comments

1

Date form YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ or YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss

  
let timeList = [

  {"date": "2023/08/07 09:15:42"},
  {"date": "2021/11/25 18:34:19"},
  {"date": "2007/05/14 07:56:30"},
  {"date": "2015/09/03 15:22:08"},
  {"date": "2010/03/22 12:47:53"}
 ]


  timeList.sort((a,b)=>new Date(a.date) - new Date(b.date))

  console.log(timeList)

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Comments

-1

Thanks for those brilliant answers on top. I have thought a slightly complicated answer. Just for those who want to compare different answers.

const data = [
    '2-2018', '1-2018',
    '3-2018', '4-2018',
    '1-2019', '2-2019',
    '3-2019', '4-2019',
    '1-2020', '3-2020',
    '4-2020', '1-2021'
]

let eachYearUniqueMonth = data.reduce((acc, elem) => {
    const uniqueDate = Number(elem.match(/(\d+)\-(\d+)/)[1])
    const uniqueYear = Number(elem.match(/(\d+)\-(\d+)/)[2])


    if (acc[uniqueYear] === undefined) {
        acc[uniqueYear] = []        
    } else{    
       if (acc[uniqueYear]  && !acc[uniqueYear].includes(uniqueDate)) {
          acc[uniqueYear].push(uniqueDate)
      }
    }

    return acc;
}, {})


let group = Object.keys(eachYearUniqueMonth).reduce((acc,uniqueYear)=>{
    eachYearUniqueMonth[uniqueYear].forEach(uniqueMonth=>{
    acc.push(`${uniqueYear}-${uniqueMonth}`)
  })
  
  return acc;
},[])

console.log(group);   //["2018-1", "2018-3", "2018-4", "2019-2", "2019-3", "2019-4", "2020-3", "2020-4"]
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1 Comment

way overkill, too complicated

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