Sorting arrays

Sort an array of values

You can easily sort an array using the Array's sort() function.

var myArray = [1,5,3,7,6,2,4];
myArray.sort((a, b) -> a - b);
trace(myArray); // 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

Sort using Reflect.compare

Reflect.compare works like this:

If a is less than b, the result is negative. If b is less than a, the result is positive. If a and b are equal, the result is 0.

It handles multiple types, so take in account Reflect.compare carries a bit of overhead.

The previous example can be shortened if you are using Reflect.compare.

var myArray = [1,5,3,7,6,2,4];
myArray.sort(Reflect.compare);
trace(myArray); // 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

These sortings aren't stable on all targets. If you need to retain the order of equal elements you should use haxe.ds.ArraySort

Using haxe.ds.ArraySort

var myArray = [1,5,3,7,6,2,4];

haxe.ds.ArraySort.sort(myArray, function(a, b):Int {
  return a - b;
});

Learn more about haxe.ds.ArraySort: https://api.haxe.org/haxe/ds/ArraySort.html

Usage

Simple array with ints

Array with objects

Notice how the second array, when using haxe.ds.ArraySort, keeps the order of the elements with equal i. The sorting is stable.