NOTE: Modern JavaScript already guarantees Array#sort() is a stable sort, so this library has very little use and has been archived.

See the compatibility table on MDN for the exact versions of JavaScript runtimes that implement stable sort natively.

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Stable

A stable array sort, because Array#sort() is not guaranteed stable.

MIT licensed.

From npm

Install with:

npm install stable

Then use it in Node.js or some other CommonJS environment as:

const stable = require('stable')

From the browser

Include stable.js or the minified version stable.min.js in your page, then call stable().

Usage

The default sort is, as with Array#sort, lexicographical:

stable(['foo', 'bar', 'baz'])  // => ['bar', 'baz', 'foo']
stable([10, 1, 5])             // => [1, 10, 5]

Unlike Array#sort, the default sort is NOT in-place. To do an in-place sort, use stable.inplace, which otherwise works the same:

const arr = [10, 1, 5]
stable(arr) === arr          // => false
stable.inplace(arr) === arr  // => true

A comparator function can be specified:

// Regular sort() compatible comparator, that returns a number.
// This demonstrates the default behavior.
const lexCmp = (a, b) => String(a).localeCompare(b)
stable(['foo', 'bar', 'baz'], lexCmp)  // => ['bar', 'baz', 'foo']

// Boolean comparator. Sorts `b` before `a` if true.
// This demonstrates a simple way to sort numerically.
const greaterThan = (a, b) => a > b
stable([10, 1, 5], greaterThan)  // => [1, 5, 10]

License

Copyright (C) 2018 Angry Bytes and contributors.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.