alphabetical

Sort an array alphabetically.

Syntax

alphabetical<T>(
  array: T[],
  key?: (item: T) => string
): T[]

Parameters

• array (T[]): The array to sort
• key ((item: T) => string, optional): Key extraction function for sorting

Return Value

• T[]: Array sorted alphabetically

Examples

Basic Usage

import { alphabetical } from 'radash'

const fruits = ['banana', 'apple', 'cherry', 'date']
const sorted = alphabetical(fruits)
// ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry', 'date']

Using Object Arrays

import { alphabetical } from 'radash'

const users = [
  { name: 'Charlie', age: 30 },
  { name: 'Alice', age: 25 },
  { name: 'Bob', age: 35 }
]

const sortedByName = alphabetical(users, user => user.name)
// [
//   { name: 'Alice', age: 25 },
//   { name: 'Bob', age: 35 },
//   { name: 'Charlie', age: 30 }
// ]

Using Nested Properties

import { alphabetical } from 'radash'

const products = [
  { name: 'Laptop', category: { name: 'Electronics' } },
  { name: 'Book', category: { name: 'Education' } },
  { name: 'Phone', category: { name: 'Electronics' } }
]

const sortedByCategory = alphabetical(products, product => product.category.name)
// [
//   { name: 'Book', category: { name: 'Education' } },
//   { name: 'Laptop', category: { name: 'Electronics' } },
//   { name: 'Phone', category: { name: 'Electronics' } }
// ]

Handling Null and Undefined Values

import { alphabetical } from 'radash'

const items = [
  { name: 'Item 1', description: 'First item' },
  { name: null, description: 'Null name' },
  { name: 'Item 2', description: 'Second item' },
  { name: undefined, description: 'Undefined name' }
]

const sorted = alphabetical(items, item => item.name || '')
// [
//   { name: null, description: 'Null name' },
//   { name: undefined, description: 'Undefined name' },
//   { name: 'Item 1', description: 'First item' },
//   { name: 'Item 2', description: 'Second item' }
// ]

Notes

1. Default Behavior: If no key function is provided, the array elements will be sorted directly as strings
2. Case Sensitivity: Sorting is case-sensitive, uppercase letters will be sorted before lowercase letters
3. Null Value Handling: Null values, null, and undefined will be converted to empty strings for sorting
4. Stability: The sort is stable, the relative positions of identical values will not change

Differences from Other Functions

• alphabetical is specifically designed for alphabetical sorting
• sort (native) requires custom comparison functions
• orderBy (Lodash) has more complex functionality, supporting multi-field sorting

Performance

Time Complexity: O(n log n)
Space Complexity: O(n)

Suitable for sorting requirements of small to medium-sized arrays.