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frameexpert
Community Expert
frameexpertCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2012
Answered

Sort algorithm: how can I sort two arrays according to one

  • September 7, 2012
  • 4 replies
  • 12786 views

I have two parallel arrays, similar to this:

var array1 = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];

var array2 = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];

I want to sort the first array, and have the second array follow the same sort as the first. Any advice for a good algorithm would be appreciated.

Rick Quatro

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer bduffy323

give this a try!

var array1 = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];
var array2 = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];
bubbleSort(array1,array2);
function bubbleSort(a,b)
{
    var swapped;
    do {
        swapped = false;
        for (var i=0; i < a.length-1; i++) {
            if (a > a[i+1]) 
            {
                var temp = a;
                a = a[i+1];
                a[i+1] = temp;
                var temp = b;
                b = b[i+1];
                b[i+1] = temp;
                swapped = true;
            }
        }
    } while (swapped);
}
alert(array1);
alert(array2);

4 replies

K
KuddRoww
Inspiring
September 7, 2012

var arr1 = ["9","3","4"];

var arr2 = ["nine","smile","clown"];

var arr = [];

function contentsIntoObjects(){

for(var i = 0; i<contents.length; i++){

    arr.push({

        arr1: arr1,

        arr2: arr2,

        });

    };

}; //contentsIntoObjects

contentsIntoObjects();

arr.sort(function(a, b){return a.arr1 - b.arr1});

frameexpert
Community Expert
frameexpertCommunity ExpertAuthor
Community Expert
September 7, 2012

Thanks for the excellent help. I like this one because it is pretty simple, and it is convenient to store an array of objects.

var docs = [];

docs.push({number:4,name:"four"});

docs.push({number:3,name:"three"});

docs.push({number:1,name:"one"});

docs.push({number:5,name:"five"});

docs.push({number:2,name:"two"});

alert (docs[0].name);

docs.sort(function(a, b) { return a.number - b.number; });

alert (docs[0].name);

One the other had, two arrays are convenient because I need one to populate a dropdownlist. So I might use bduffy's bubble sort.

BTW, here is what I am doing. I need to collect a list of open documents for use in a script. I am storing the file names without the path on one array and the document objects in another parallel array. I want to sort the file names and display them in a dropdownlist. When the user picks out a file name from the dropdownlist, I want to get the corresponding document object from the other array.

Thanks again for the generous help.

Rick

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frameexpert
Community Expert
frameexpertCommunity ExpertAuthor
Community Expert
September 7, 2012

Since arrays get passed to functions by reference in JavaScript, this one works well as a general function for sorting parallel arrays. It preserves both arrays.

var numbers = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];

var names = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];

alert (numbers);

alert (names);

 

parallelArraySort (numbers, names);

 

alert (numbers);

alert (names);

 

function parallelArraySort (a1, a2) {

   

    // Make a temporary array of objects and populate it from the two arrays.

    var arr = [];

    for (var i = 0; i < a1.length; i += 1) {

        arr.push ({first: a1, second: a2});

    }

 

    // Sort the object based on the first array.

    arr.sort (function (a, b) { return a.first - b.first; });

 

    // Update both arrays, based on the new sort.

    for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i += 1) {

        a1 = arr.first;

        a2 = arr.second;

    }

}

www.frameexpert.com
K
KuddRoww
Inspiring
September 7, 2012

I had a similar issue earlier this week. I found this invaluable.

http://jsfiddle.net/7rygA/

Jongware
Community Expert
JongwareCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2012

Give this a try!

var array1 = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];
var array2 = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];
var array3 = [];
for (i=0; i<Math.min(array1.length, array2.length); i++)
array3 = [ array1, array2 ];
array3.sort (function(a,b) { return a[0] - b[0]; });
alert (array3.join('\r'));
Harbs.
Harbs.
Legend
September 7, 2012

I would do it similar to Jongware's approach, but I'd probably make an array of objects instead of a two dimentional array.

Jongware
Community Expert
JongwareCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2012

.. I wonder why this does not work .. Perhaps my logic is flawed?

var array1 = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];
var array2 = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];
var array3 = [];
for (i=0; i<Math.min(array1.length, array2.length); i++)
array3 = [ i ];
array3.sort (function(a,b) {
var swap, diff = array1 - array1;
if (diff < 0)
{
  swap = array1;
  array1 = array1;
  array1 = swap;
  swap = array2;
  array2 = array2;
  array2 = swap;
}
return diff;
});
alert (array1.join(' ')+'\r'+array2.join(' '));
bduffy323
bduffy323Correct answer
Inspiring
September 7, 2012

give this a try!

var array1 = [4, 3, 1, 5, 2];
var array2 = ["four", "three", "one", "five", "two"];
bubbleSort(array1,array2);
function bubbleSort(a,b)
{
    var swapped;
    do {
        swapped = false;
        for (var i=0; i < a.length-1; i++) {
            if (a > a[i+1]) 
            {
                var temp = a;
                a = a[i+1];
                a[i+1] = temp;
                var temp = b;
                b = b[i+1];
                b[i+1] = temp;
                swapped = true;
            }
        }
    } while (swapped);
}
alert(array1);
alert(array2);
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