How Can I Sort One Array Based on the Order of Another Array in JavaScript?

Rearranging Arrays Based on Auxiliary Values

In JavaScript, there may be scenarios where you need to sort one array based on the order specified by another array. This can be particularly useful when working with data structures where the order of elements is crucial.

Consider the following example:

itemsArray = [
    ['Anne', 'a'],
    ['Bob', 'b'],
    ['Henry', 'b'],
    ['Andrew', 'd'],
    ['Jason', 'c'],
    ['Thomas', 'b']
];
sortingArr = [ 'b', 'c', 'b', 'b', 'a', 'd' ];

In this case, the goal is to rearrange the itemsArray to match the order of the sortingArr. Unfortunately, there are no IDs to track the elements, so the priority is to match the order as closely as possible.

Solution:

To achieve this, you can leverage JavaScript's built-in sort() method in conjunction with a custom comparison function. The comparison function compares two elements from the itemsArray based on their corresponding values in the sortingArr.

itemsArray.sort(function(a, b){  
  return sortingArr.indexOf(a) - sortingArr.indexOf(b);
});

This expression essentially sorts the itemsArray based on the corresponding indices of its elements in the sortingArr. As a result, the rearranged array will resemble the following:

itemsArray = [
    ['Bob', 'b'],
    ['Jason', 'c'],
    ['Henry', 'b'],
    ['Thomas', 'b']
    ['Anne', 'a'],
    ['Andrew', 'd'],
];

This solution prioritizes the order specified by the sortingArr and outputs the itemsArray in the desired arrangement.

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