The lodash _.sortBy method

So I have come to find that I like the lodash _.sortBy method more so than the native Array.prototype.sort method. I do still use it of course when it comes to working with a project where lodash is not part of the stack, it is just that the method works in a way that I find more natural. I will be elaborating what I mean by that in this post.

The _.sortBy method is another option compared to the _.find method also, the _.find method can be used to find just one item in a collection, while the _.sortBy method can be used to sort the whole collection, I can then take just the first element, or the top three. So lets take a look at some examples of sorting with lodash, and native javaScript as well.

1 - What to know

This is one of my many posts on lodash methods, this one is on the _.sortBy method that works like the sort array prototype method in native javaScript, but works a little differently. Here I will be writing about that method a bit, as well as the corresponding Array.sort when it comes to just working with javaScript by itself. This is not a getting started post on lodash, or javaScript in general.

2 - Basic example of _.sortBy

For a basic example of _.sortBy why not start off with just using it to sort an array of numbers. It does not get more basic than that does it.

2.1 - Sort an array of numbers

To sort an array of numbers by numerical value, I just have to give the array of numbers to _.sortBy. No need to give and method as the second argument.

let _ = require('lodash');
 
let nums = [5, 42, -5, 7, 6, 3, 52, 27, 158, -1];
 
console.log(_.sortBy(nums));
 
//[ -5, -1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 27, 42, 52, 158 ]

This is all fine and good for a very basic example of the lodash sort by method, but what if I want to set some kind of condition for sorting? A function can of course be given as a second argument, so lets look at another basic example of that.

2.2 - Sort an array of numbers by an expression

I can give a method as a second argument that can be used to define an expression for sorting.

let lessThanTen = _.sortBy(nums, function (n) {
  return n < 10;
});
 
console.log(lessThanTen);
// [ 42, 52, 27, 158, 5, -5, 7, 6, 3, -1 ]

That is all fine and good, but in many projects I am working with an array of objects. So lets look at some more basic examples.

3 - Arrays of Objects and lodash sortby

When it comes to an array of objects a property name can be given as a second argument to a number value that will be used t sort the collection. If that does not cut it a function can be given to create and return a numbered value that will be used to sort the collection.

let arr = [{x:20,y:20}, {x:23,y:32},{x:100,y:6}];
 
// strings can be used to set a property to a number value
let sortX = _.sortBy(arr, 'x'),
sortY = _.sortBy(arr, 'y'),
 
// or a function can be given to define some logic
distance = _.sortBy(arr, (pt)=>{
    return Math.sqrt( Math.pow(pt.x - 70, 2) + Math.pow(pt.y -70, 2) );
});
 
console.log(sortX.pop().x); // 100
console.log(sortY.pop().y); // 32
console.log(distance.pop().x); // 20

4 - _.sortBy and _.find

When it comes to finding an item in a collection there is finding a single item, and then there is sorting the collection and taking the top or bottom item of that collection. The lodash _.find method will work okay in most situations depending on the nature of the condition that is used. In some cases it would be better to sort the collection by a condition, and then take the first element.

For example say I have a bunch of blog posts and I want to find the post in my collection of posts that has the highest word count. Using the lodash _.find method in that case, would not work out so well because the nature of condition must be applied to all items in the collection. It is a situation in which there is a value that is unique to just one item, but that value is not known it must be found first in order to know what I am looking for. So a better alternative would be to sort.

let posts = [{
        wordCount: 240
    }, {
        wordCount: 300
    }, {
        wordCount: 1600
    }, {
        wordCount: 800
    }, {
        wordCount: 1800
    }, {
        wordCount: 550
    }
];
 
// a common iterator that will be
// used with _.find and _.sortBy
let iterator = (a) => {
    return a.wordCount;
};
 
// find will just return the first item that
// will return true for the iterator it will
// not sort
let findPost = _.find(posts, iterator);
console.log(findPost.wordCount); // 240
 
// Sort by will actually sort all elements
// that meet the condition, and leave
// those that do not
topPosts = _.sortBy(posts, iterator);
console.log(topPosts.pop().wordCount); // 1800
console.log(topPosts.pop().wordCount); // 1600
console.log(topPosts.pop().wordCount); // 800