The lodash _.sortBy method

So I have come to find that I like the lodash _.sortBy method more so than the native Array.sort. Also it is worth pointing out that this is a collection method, so _.sortBy is a more robust method that brings a bit more to the table. In this post I will be writing about sorting using the _.sortBy method.

1 - What to know

This is one of my many quick posts on lodash methods, this one is on _.sortBy. 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.

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 ]

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 ]