Why Does JavaScript's `sort()` Function Produce Unexpected Results When Sorting Numbers, and How Can This Be Fixed?

Sorting an Array of Integers: Understanding the Numeric Sort

Sorting an array of integers may seem straightforward, but certain quirks can arise, leading to unexpected results. Consider the following code:

numArray = numArray.sort();<br>

Intuitively, one might expect this code to sort the array in ascending order: [99, 104, 140000]. However, the output is unexpected: [104, 140000, 99]. This is because the sort function default behavior is to treat elements as strings and sort them alphabetically.

To resolve this issue, JavaScript provides a mechanism to customize the sorting process. By introducing a new comparison function, we can specify how elements should be sorted.

In the case of integers, we can define a numeric sort function:

  return a - b;<br>});<br>

This sort function simply subtracts one integer from another, resulting in a positive or negative value. Positive values indicate that the first argument (a) is greater than the second (b), and vice versa.

By passing this function to the sort method, we can effectively sort the array numerically:

Now, the array is sorted correctly in ascending order based on the integer values of its elements. By leveraging the custom comparison function, we can control how the array is sorted and achieve the desired outcome.

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