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Function: natural()

natural<T>(fn): Comparator<T>

Defined in: compare/basic/index.ts:142

Creates a comparator for natural string sorting.

Natural sorting handles numbers within strings intelligently:

  • "file2.txt" comes before "file10.txt" (not after as with lexicographic sort)
  • Properly handles mixed alphanumeric strings

Type Parameters​

T​

T

Parameters​

fn​

ComparableExtractor<T, string>

Function to extract the string value

Returns​

Comparator<T>

A comparator function for natural string sorting

Example​

const files = ['file10.txt', 'file2.txt', 'file1.txt', 'file20.txt']

// Lexicographic sort (incorrect for numbers)
files.sort() // => ['file1.txt', 'file10.txt', 'file2.txt', 'file20.txt']

// Natural sort (correct for numbers)
files.sort(natural(x => x))
// => ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt', 'file10.txt', 'file20.txt']

// With objects
interface File {
  name: string
  size: number
}

const fileObjects = [
  { name: 'image10.png', size: 1024 },
  { name: 'image2.png', size: 2048 },
  { name: 'image1.png', size: 512 }
]

fileObjects.sort(natural(f => f.name))
// => [{ name: 'image1.png', ... }, { name: 'image2.png', ... }, { name: 'image10.png', ... }]

See​

  • ascending - for standard ascending sort
  • caseInsensitive - for case-insensitive comparison