Swift sort an array with strings and numbers [duplicate]

edit/update: Xcode 11.3 • Swift 5.2 or later

You can use String method localizedStandardCompare (diacritics and case insensitive):

let array = [ "10", "1", "101", "NA", "100", "20", "210", "200", "NA", "7" ]let sorted = array.sorted {$0.localizedStandardCompare($1) == .orderedAscending}print(sorted) // ["1", "7", "10", "20", "100", "101", "200", "210", "NA", "NA"]

or using the method sort(by:) on a MutableCollection:

var array = [ "10", "1", "101", "NA", "100", "20", "210", "200", "NA", "7" ]array.sort {$0.localizedStandardCompare($1) == .orderedAscending}print(array) // ["1", "7", "10", "20", "100", "101", "200", "210", "NA", "NA"]

You can also implement your own localized standard sort method extending Collection:

public extension Sequence where Element: StringProtocol {     func localizedStandardSorted(ascending: Bool = true) -> [Element] {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sorted { $0.localizedStandardCompare($1) == result }    }}

let array = [ "10", "1", "101", "NA", "100", "20", "210", "200", "NA", "7" ]let sorted = array.localizedStandardSorted()print(sorted) // ["1", "7", "10", "20", "100", "101", "200", "210", "NA", "NA"]

The mutating method as well extending MutableCollection:

public extension MutableCollection where Element: StringProtocol, Self: RandomAccessCollection {    mutating func localizedStandardSort(ascending: Bool = true) {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sort { $0.localizedStandardCompare($1) == result }    }}

var array = [ "10", "1", "101", "NA", "100", "20", "210", "200", "NA", "7" ]array.localizedStandardSort()print(array) // ["1", "7", "10", "20", "100", "101", "200", "210", "NA", "NA"]

If you need to sort your array numerically you can use String compare method setting the options parameter to .numeric:

public extension Sequence where Element: StringProtocol {    func sortedNumerically(ascending: Bool = true) -> [Element] {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sorted { $0.compare($1, options: .numeric) == result }    }}

public extension MutableCollection where Element: StringProtocol, Self: RandomAccessCollection {    mutating func sortNumerically(ascending: Bool = true) {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sort { $0.compare($1, options: .numeric) == result }    }}

var numbers = ["1.5","0.5","1"]let sortedNumbers = numbers.sortedNumerically()print(sortedNumbers)  // ["0.5", "1", "1.5"]print(numbers) // ["1.5","0.5","1"]// mutating the original collectionnumbers.sortNumerically(ascending: false)print(numbers)  // "["1.5", "1", "0.5"]\n"

To sort a custom class/structure by one of its properties:

extension MutableCollection where Self: RandomAccessCollection {    public mutating func localizedStandardSort<T: StringProtocol>(_ predicate: (Element) -> T, ascending: Bool = true) {        sort {            predicate($0).localizedStandardCompare(predicate($1)) ==                (ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending)        }    }}

public extension Sequence {    func localizedStandardSorted<T: StringProtocol>(_ predicate: (Element) -> T, ascending: Bool = true) -> [Element] {        sorted {            predicate($0).localizedStandardCompare(predicate($1)) ==                (ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending)        }    }}

public extension Sequence {    func sortedNumerically<T: StringProtocol>(_ predicate: (Element) -> T, ascending: Bool = true) -> [Element] {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sorted { predicate($0).compare(predicate($1), options: .numeric) == result }    }}

public extension MutableCollection where Element: StringProtocol, Self: RandomAccessCollection {    mutating func sortNumerically<T: StringProtocol>(_ predicate: (Element) -> T, ascending: Bool = true) {        let result: ComparisonResult = ascending ? .orderedAscending : .orderedDescending        return sort { predicate($0).compare(predicate($1), options: .numeric) == result }    }}

Playground testing

struct Person {    let name: String    let age : Int}extension Person : CustomStringConvertible {    var description: String { "name: \(name), age: \(age)" }}

let people: [Person] = [.init(name: "Éd Sheeran", age: 26),                        .init(name: "phil Collins", age: 66),                        .init(name: "Shakira", age: 40),                        .init(name: "rihanna", age: 25),                        .init(name: "Bono", age: 57)]let sorted = people.localizedStandardSorted(\.name)print(sorted) // [name: Bono, age: 57, name: Éd Sheeran, age: 26, name: phil Collins, age: 66, name: rihanna, age: 25, name: Shakira, age: 40]