Question

How does this work in regard to arguments (I’m using this in sorting a select box):

$(this).html( $("option", $(this)).sort( function(a, b) {return a.text == b.text ? 0 : a.text < b.text ? -1 : 1}));

If $(this) represents a “select” menu, argument is a collection of sorted “option” values. Or is there a better/cleaner way to explain what’s happening?

Answer 1

You asked for an explanation, here’s a plain English explanation:

For this <select> element, take the existing <option>, put them
into an array, and sort them by their text value, then replace the
existing html with the new sorted options.

Equivalent jQuery for your code, with variable names to help you see what’s happening:

    var currentOptions = $("option", $(this));
    var sortedOptions = currentOptions.sort(function (a, b) {
        return a.text == b.text ? 0 : a.text < b.text ? -1 : 1
    });
    $(this).html(sortedOptions);

The sorting that occurs is a JavaScript method, read about it here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/sort