Swift – Sort array of objects with multiple criteria

Using tuples to do a comparison of multiple criteria

A really simple way of performing a sort by multiple criteria (i.e sorting by one comparison, and if equivalent, then by another comparison) is by using tuples, as the < and > operators have overloads for them that perform lexicographic comparisons.

/// Returns a Boolean value indicating whether the first tuple is ordered
/// before the second in a lexicographical ordering.
///
/// Given two tuples `(a1, a2, ..., aN)` and `(b1, b2, ..., bN)`, the first
/// tuple is before the second tuple if and only if
/// `a1 < b1` or (`a1 == b1` and
/// `(a2, ..., aN) < (b2, ..., bN)`).
public func < <A : Comparable, B : Comparable>(lhs: (A, B), rhs: (A, B)) -> Bool

For example:

struct Contact {
  var firstName: String
  var lastName: String
}

var contacts = [
  Contact(firstName: "Leonard", lastName: "Charleson"),
  Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Webb"),
  Contact(firstName: "Charles", lastName: "Alexson"),
  Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Elexson"),
  Contact(firstName: "Alex", lastName: "Elexson"),
]

contacts.sort {
  ($0.lastName, $0.firstName) <
    ($1.lastName, $1.firstName)
}

print(contacts)

// [
//   Contact(firstName: "Charles", lastName: "Alexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Leonard", lastName: "Charleson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Alex", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Webb")
// ]

This will compare the elements’ lastName properties first. If they aren’t equal, then the sort order will be based on a < comparison with them. If they are equal, then it will move onto the next pair of elements in the tuple, i.e comparing the firstName properties.

The standard library provides < and > overloads for tuples of 2 to 6 elements.

If you want different sorting orders for different properties, you can simply swap the elements in the tuples:

contacts.sort {
  ($1.lastName, $0.firstName) <
    ($0.lastName, $1.firstName)
}

// [
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Webb")
//   Contact(firstName: "Alex", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Leonard", lastName: "Charleson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Charles", lastName: "Alexson"),
// ]

This will now sort by lastName descending, then firstName ascending.

---

Defining a sort(by:) overload that takes multiple predicates

Inspired by the discussion on Sorting Collections with map closures and SortDescriptors, another option would be to define a custom overload of sort(by:) and sorted(by:) that deals with multiple predicates – where each predicate is considered in turn to decide the order of the elements.

extension MutableCollection where Self : RandomAccessCollection {
  mutating func sort(
    by firstPredicate: (Element, Element) -> Bool,
    _ secondPredicate: (Element, Element) -> Bool,
    _ otherPredicates: ((Element, Element) -> Bool)...
  ) {
    sort(by:) { lhs, rhs in
      if firstPredicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
      if firstPredicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      if secondPredicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
      if secondPredicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      for predicate in otherPredicates {
        if predicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
        if predicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      }
      return false
    }
  }
}

extension Sequence {
  func sorted(
    by firstPredicate: (Element, Element) -> Bool,
    _ secondPredicate: (Element, Element) -> Bool,
    _ otherPredicates: ((Element, Element) -> Bool)...
  ) -> [Element] {
    return sorted(by:) { lhs, rhs in
      if firstPredicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
      if firstPredicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      if secondPredicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
      if secondPredicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      for predicate in otherPredicates {
        if predicate(lhs, rhs) { return true }
        if predicate(rhs, lhs) { return false }
      }
      return false
    }
  }
}

^{(The secondPredicate: parameter is unfortunate, but is required in order to avoid creating ambiguities with the existing sort(by:) overload)}

This then allows us to say (using the contacts array from earlier):

contacts.sort(by:
  { $0.lastName > $1.lastName },  // first sort by lastName descending
  { $0.firstName < $1.firstName } // ... then firstName ascending
  // ...
)

print(contacts)

// [
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Webb")
//   Contact(firstName: "Alex", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Michael", lastName: "Elexson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Leonard", lastName: "Charleson"),
//   Contact(firstName: "Charles", lastName: "Alexson"),
// ]

// or with sorted(by:)...
let sortedContacts = contacts.sorted(by:
  { $0.lastName > $1.lastName },  // first sort by lastName descending
  { $0.firstName < $1.firstName } // ... then firstName ascending
  // ...
)

Although the call-site isn’t as concise as the tuple variant, you gain additional clarity with what’s being compared and in what order.

---

Conforming to Comparable

If you’re going to be doing these kinds of comparisons regularly then, as @AMomchilov & @appzYourLife suggest, you can conform Contact to Comparable:

extension Contact : Comparable {
  static func == (lhs: Contact, rhs: Contact) -> Bool {
    return (lhs.firstName, lhs.lastName) ==
             (rhs.firstName, rhs.lastName)
  }
  
  static func < (lhs: Contact, rhs: Contact) -> Bool {
    return (lhs.lastName, lhs.firstName) <
             (rhs.lastName, rhs.firstName)
  }
}

And now just call sort() for an ascending order:

contacts.sort()

or sort(by: >) for a descending order:

contacts.sort(by: >)

---

Defining custom sort orders in a nested type

If you have other sort orders you want use, you can define them in a nested type:

extension Contact {
  enum Comparison {
    static let firstLastAscending: (Contact, Contact) -> Bool = {
      return ($0.firstName, $0.lastName) <
               ($1.firstName, $1.lastName)
    }
  }
}

and then simply call as:

contacts.sort(by: Contact.Comparison.firstLastAscending)