Javascript Sorting Numbers

Question

I am trying to sort the number in descending order using javascript. It works well for strings but when I use numbers it gives me wrong results.

Following is the code:

<html>
<head>
<script language ="Javascript">
function sort(form)
{
var a1=form.first.value
var b1 = form.second.value
var c1 =form.third.value
var a2= parseFloat(a1)
var b2=parseFloat(b1)
var c2= parseFloat(c1)
var rank_the_numbers = [a2,b2,c2]
rank_the_numbers.sort(function(a, b){return a-b})


document.writeln("The largest number is: "+rank_the_numbers[0])
document.writeln("<br> The second largest number is: " +rank_the_numbers[1])
 document.writeln("<br> The smallest number is: " +rank_the_numbers[2])
 document.writeln(rank_the_numbers)
}
</script>
</head>
<form onSubmit="return sort(this)">
Enter any three numbers: <br>
<input type="text" name="first" size=5><br>
<input type="text" name="second"size=5><br>
<input type="text" name="third" size=5><br>
<input type="submit" value= "Rank the numbers!" onClick = "sort(this.form)">
</form>
</body>
</html>

What changes should i make so that the code runs correctly for the numbers too. I went through a few articles on stackoverflow and used (function(a, b){return a-b}), but it too did not work.

Anik Islam Abhi · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-12 16:59:21Z

2

For decending order

sort should be

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

JSFIDDLE

edited Nov 12, 2015 at 16:59

answered Nov 12, 2015 at 16:54

Anik Islam Abhi

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Add a comment |

Vinit Khandelwal · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-10 13:18:21Z

Javascript inbuilt sort function sorts alphabetically

const numbers = [1,12,5,13,2,15,4,11,3,10];

so sorting numbers directly would return alphabetically sorted array

const sortedAlphabet = numbers.sort();
// Output: [1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 2, 3, 4, 5]

while if you want to sort numbers in ascending order this is the way to do it

const sortedNumbers = numbers.sort((a, b) => a-b);
// Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15]

and if you want to sort numbers in descending order this is the way to do it

const sortedNumbers = numbers.sort((a, b) => b-a);
// Output: [15, 13, 12, 11, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1]

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