Sorting array of object as strings?

Question

I want to find duplicates of objects in an array. I wanna do this by sorting the array and then comparing the items with each other. How can I compare an object "as a string" that means if there is any difference at all they get sorted accordingly?

It's the sort-function I would like to replace.

    var newCart = shoppingCart.sort();

    var results = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < newCart.length - 1; i++) {
        if (newCart[i + 1] == newCart[i]) {
            results.push(newCart[i]);
        }
    }

    this.products = results;

Example input:

[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Skateboard",
        "price": 1299,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/1-t.jpg"
    },

    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29000,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },

    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Skateboard",
        "price": 1299,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/1-t.jpg"
    },

    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29100,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },
    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29000,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },
]

Example output:

[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Skateboard",
        "price": 1299,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/1-t.jpg"
    },
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Skateboard",
        "price": 1299,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/1-t.jpg"
    },

    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29000,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },

    {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29000,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },
        {
        "id": 4,
        "name": "A trip to the sun with Erik",
        "price": 29100,
        "currency": "SEK",
        "thumbnail": "/static/img/products/4-t.jpg"
    },
]

Note that the last item in the output ends up last, as the price is not the same as the other items with the same ID.

This is a bit unclear, could you add examples of input and desired output? — georg, Sep 05 '14 at 09:22
What do you mean by "as a string"? `.toString()` or `JSON.stringify()` or some other serialization? — Sirko, Sep 05 '14 at 09:22
How about `JSON.stringify(newCart[i + 1]) == JSON.stringify(newCart[i])` ? — cameron, Sep 05 '14 at 09:25
Maybe this helps: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9923890/removing-duplicate-objects-with-underscore-for-javascript — toesslab, Sep 05 '14 at 09:27
Maybe this? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2218999/remove-duplicates-from-an-array-of-objects-in-javascript — parchment, Sep 05 '14 at 09:28
No need to sort here: create a hash using objects `id` and `price` as a hashkey. — raina77ow, Sep 05 '14 at 09:28
@parchment i want it to be agnostic about the keys in the objects. — Himmators, Sep 05 '14 at 09:29
@parchment, because the items sometimes change it's content and then I need two of them in the shoppning basket. — Himmators, Sep 05 '14 at 09:30

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 05 '14 at 09:40

You can use JSON.stringify

    function sort(arr) {
        if (arr.length == 0) return [];
        var result = [];
        var v = arr[0];
        result.push(v);
        arr.splice(0,1);;
        for (var i = 0; i < arr.length - 1; i++) {
            if (JSON.stringify(arr[i]) == JSON.stringify(v)) {
                result.push(arr[i]);
                arr.splice(i,1);
            }
        }
            return result.concat(sort(arr));
    }

console.log(JSON.stringify(sort(arr)));

DEMO

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 19 '17 at 16:41

0

I have done this simple JavaScript sort method:

arr.sort(function(a,b) { return parseFloat(a.price) - parseFloat(b.price) } );

Solution

edited May 19 '17 at 16:41

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 05 '14 at 10:12

Suresh Mahawar

1,458
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parseFloat, really nice! – Himmators Sep 08 '14 at 08:37
you can apply any property to sort it like id, name, currency etc. – Suresh Mahawar Sep 08 '14 at 10:17
yes, but I wish to sort it on ANY item changes. not just one. – Himmators Sep 08 '14 at 10:18

Sorting array of object as strings?

2 Answers2

DEMO