Semver sorter

semversorter.js

/**
 * Sorts an array of version objects based on their semantic version numbers, including pre-release versions.
 *
 * This function parses each version string using a regular expression to extract its numeric, pre-release,
 * and build components and then compares them to order the array. 
 *
 * It supports complex version such as (in order) "1.4.9", "1.5.0-alpha", "1.5.0-alpha2", and "1.5.0", ensuring 
 * that pre-release versions are sorted correctly relative to final releases.
 *
 * @param {Array<Object>} versions - An array of version objects where each object contains a "version" property of type string.
 * @returns {Array<Object>} - A new array of version objects sorted in ascending order based on semantic versioning.
 */
function sortVersions( versions = [] ) {

    // Copied from https://semver.org/
    const versionRegex = /^(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)\.(0|[1-9]\d*)(?:-((?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*)(?:\.(?:0|[1-9]\d*|\d*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*))*))?(?:\+([0-9a-zA-Z-]+(?:\.[0-9a-zA-Z-]+)*))?$/;

    const parseVersion = ( version ) => {
        const match = version.match( versionRegex );

        if ( ! match ) return [ 0, 0, 0, 0 ];

        const major = parseInt( match[ 1 ], 10 );
        const minor = parseInt( match[ 2 ], 10 );
        const patch = parseInt( match[ 3 ], 10 );

        const mapping = { dev: 0, alpha: 1, a: 1, beta: 2, b: 2, rc: 3 };

        let prerelease = [];

        if ( match[ 4 ] ) {
            const parts = match[ 4 ].split( '.' );
            parts.forEach( part => {
                const letterMatch = part.match( /^[a-zA-Z]+/ );
                if ( letterMatch ) {
                    const letter = letterMatch[0].toLowerCase();
                    const numberPart = part.slice( letter.length );
                    prerelease.push( mapping[ letter ] );
                    prerelease.push( numberPart ? parseInt( numberPart, 10 ) : 0 );
                } else {
                    prerelease.push( -1 );
                }
            } );
        } else {
            prerelease.push( 4 ); // Final release indicator (higher than pre-releases)
        }

        const build = match[ 5 ] ? match[ 5 ].split( '.' ).map( s => parseInt( s, 10 ) ) : [];

        return [ major, minor, patch, ...prerelease, ...build ];
    }

    return versions.sort( ( a, b ) => {
        const versionA = parseVersion( a.version );
        const versionB = parseVersion( b.version );

        for ( let i = 0; i < Math.max( versionA.length, versionB.length ); i++ )
            if ( versionA[ i ] !== versionB[ i ] )
                return versionA[ i ] - versionB[ i ];

        return 0;
    } );
}

// --- Test:
const exampleVersions = [
    { version: '1.5.3-beta', data: '1.5.3-beta' },
    { version: '1.5.3', data: '1.5.3' },
    { version: '1.5.2', data: '1.5.2' },
    { version: '1.4.9-beta', data: '1.4.9-beta' },
    { version: '1.4.9-beta2', data: '1.4.9-beta2' },
    { version: '1.4.9', data: '1.4.9' },
    { version: '1.4.9-rc1', data: '1.4.9-rc1' },
    { version: '1.5.1', data: '1.5.1' },
    { version: '1.5.3-alpha', data: '1.5.3-alpha' },
    { version: '1.5.0', data: '1.5.0' },
    { version: '1.4.9-rc', data: '1.4.9-rc' },
    { version: '1.4.8', data: '1.4.8' },
    { version: '1.4.7', data: '1.4.7' },
]; 

console.log( sortVersions(exampleVersions ) );