Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-headerAsc {
  background-color: #9fbfdf;
  background-image: url(black-asc.gif);
}

Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-headerDesc {
  background-color: #8cb3d9;
  background-image: url(black-desc.gif);
}

Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-header {
  background-color: #99bfe6;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: center right;
  padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;
  white-space: normal;
  cursor: pointer;
}

Previously the row would get the same class as the header cells, this class was added to make it easier to determine what element was being targetted in the plugin.

As of v2.4, an <i> element, with this class name, is automatically appended to the header cells. To prevent the plugin from adding an <i> element to the headers, set the cssIcon option to an empty string.

In v2.7, the icon will only be added to the header if both the cssIcon option is set AND the headerTemplate option includes the icon tag ({icon}).

With the addition of multiple tbody sorting in v2.2, you can now insert a non-sorting tbody within the table by adding this class to the tbody.

<tbody class="tablesorter-infoOnly">
  <tr>
    <th>The contents of this tbody</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>will not be sorted</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>

As an example, I've split up this options table into three (3) tbodies. The first contains the active options, the second is the info block with a row that only contains the text "Deprecated Options", and the last tbody contains the deprecated options. Sort the table to see how each tbody sorts separately.

NOTE! The pager plugin will only be applied to the first tbody, as always. I may work on modifying this behavior in the future, if I can figure out the best implementation.

• "mmddyyyy" (default)
• "ddmmyyyy"
• "yyyymmdd"

In previous versions, this option was set as "us", "uk" or "dd/mm/yy". This option was modified to better fit needed date formats. It will only work with four digit years!

The sorter should be set to "shortDate" and the date format can be set in the "dateFormat" option or set for a specific columns within the "headers" option. See the demo page to see it working.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({

    dateFormat : "mmddyyyy", // default date format

    // or to change the format for specific columns,
    // add the dateFormat to the headers option:
    headers: {
      0: { sorter: "shortDate" }, // "shortDate" with the default dateFormat above
      1: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "ddmmyyyy" }, // day first format
      2: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "yyyymmdd" }  // year first format
    }

  });
});

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority (Modified v2.3.1):

• jQuery data data-dateFormat="mmddyyyy".
• metadata class="{ dateFormat: 'mmddyyyy'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { dateFormat : 'mmddyyyy' } }.
• header class name class="dateFormat-mmddyyyy".
• Overall dateFormat option.

• bottom - sort empty table cells to the bottom.
• top - sort empty table cells to the top.
• none or zero - sort empty table cells as if the cell has the value equal to zero.

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority:

• jQuery data data-empty="top".
• metadata class="{ empty: 'top'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { empty : 'top' } }.
• header class name class="empty-top".
• Overall emptyTo option.

emptyToBottom option was added in v2.1.11, then replaced by the emptyTo option in v2.1.16.

For example, to disable sorting on the first two columns of a table: headers: { 0: { sorter: false}, 1: {sorter: false} }.

The plugin attempts to detect the type of data that is contained in a column, but if it can't figure it out then it defaults to alphanumeric. You can easily override this by setting the header argument (or column parser). See the full list of default parsers here or write your own.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headers: {

      // See example - Disable first column
      0: { sorter: false },

      // See example 2: Sort column numerically & treat any text as if its value is:
      1: { sorter: "digit", empty:  "top" }, // zero; sort empty cells to the top
      2: { sorter: "digit", string: "max" }, // maximum positive value
      3: { sorter: "digit", string: "min" }, // maximum negative value

      // Sort the fifth column by date & set the format
      4: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "yyyymmdd" }, // year first format

      // See example 3: lock the sort order
      // this option will not work if added as metadata
      5: { lockedOrder: "asc" },

      // See Example 4: Initial sort order direction of seventh column
      6: { sortInitialOrder: "desc" },

      // Set filter widget options for this column
      // See the "Applying the filter widget" demo
      7: { filter: false },    // disable filter widget for this column
      8: { filter: "parsed" }, // use parsed data for this column in the filter search

      // Set resizable widget options for this column
      9: { resizable: false } // prevent resizing of column 9

    }
  });
});

This template string has two default tags: {content} and {icon}.
{content} will be replaced by the current header HTML content.
{icon} will be replaced by <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>, but only if a class name is defined in the cssIcon option.

This template string may also contain HTML, e.g ('<em>{content}</em>')

After the template string is built, the onRenderTemplate function is called to allow further manipulation. Please read more about this onRenderTemplate function and/or check out the example (link to the right).

When true, all widgets set by the widgets option will apply after tablesorter has initialized, this is the normal behavior.

If false, the each widget set by the widgets option will be initialized, meaning the "init" function is run, but the format function will not be run. This is useful when running the pager plugin after the table is set up. The pager plugin will initialize, then apply all set widgets.

Why you ask? Well, lets say you have a table with 1000 rows that will have the pager plugin applied to it. Before this option, the table would finish its setup, all widgets would be applied to the 1000 rows, pager plugin initializes and reapplies the widgets on the say 20 rows showing; making the widget application to 100 rows unnecessary and a waste of time. So, when this option is false, widgets will only be applied to the table after the pager is set up.

In versions 2.0.6+, all TH text is wrapped in a div with a class name of "tablesorter-inner" by default. In the example below, the header cell (TH) div is given a class name (source).

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headerTemplate: '{content}',
    onRenderHeader: function (){
      $(this).find('div').addClass('roundedCorners');
    }
  });
});

and you'll end up with this HTML (only the thead is shown)

<thead>
  <tr>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner roundedCorners">Column 1</div></th>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner roundedCorners">Column 2</div></th>
  </tr>
</thead>

* Note: this function adds additional rendering time to the table if any DOM manipulation is done. Because this time will be on top of the processing time already added by the template.

The onRenderTemplate function receives a column index and template string parameters. The template string, from the headerTemplate option, will already have the {icon} and {content} tags replaced; it's just a string of formatted HTML. When done manipulating this string, return it. Here is an example:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headerTemplate: '{icon}{content}',
    onRenderTemplate: function (index, template){
      return '<em>' + (index + 1) + ':</em> ' + template;
    }
  });
});

The template parameter can be manipulated as a string, or if you prefer, turn it into a jQuery object (var $t = $(template)) to find and replace content as desired. Just make sure you return a string (return $t.html())

From the example function above, you'll end up with something similar to this HTML (only the thead is shown)

<thead>
  <tr>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner"><em>1:</em> <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>First Name</div></th>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner"><em>2:</em> <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>Last Name</div></th>
  </tr>
</thead>

* Note: If the cssIcon option is an empty string, the {icon} tag will also become an empty string.

sorter: false	disable sort for this column.
sorter: "text"	Sort alpha-numerically.
sorter: "digit"	Sort numerically.
sorter: "currency"	Sort by currency value (supports "£$€¤¥¢").
sorter: "ipAddress"	Sort by IP Address.
sorter: "url"	Sort by url.
sorter: "isoDate"	Sort by ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD; these formats can be followed by a time).
sorter: "percent"	Sort by percent.
sorter: "usLongDate"	Sort by date (U.S. Standard, e.g. Jan 18, 2001 9:12 AM or 18 Jan 2001 9:12 AM (new in v2.7.4)).
sorter: "shortDate"	Sort by a shortened date (see dateFormat; these formats can also be followed by a time).
sorter: "time"	Sort by time (23:59 or 12:59 pm).
sorter: "metadata"	Sort by the sorter value in the metadata - requires the metadata plugin.

Check out the headers option to see how to use these parsers in your table (example #1).
Or add a header class name using "sorter-" plus the parser name (example #2), this includes custom parsers (example #3).

You can change this, but the table will still need the required thead and tbody before this plugin will work properly.
Added > to the selector in v2.3 to prevent targetting nested table headers. It was modified again in v2.4 to include td cells within the thead.

It was necessary to add this option because some widgets add table rows for styling (see the writing custom widgets demo) and if a table update is triggered ($('table').trigger('update');) those added rows will automatically become incorporated into the table.

For example, sortForce: [[0,0]] will sort the first column in ascending order. After the forced sort, the user selected column(s), or during initialzation, the sorting order defined in the sortList will follow. And lastly, the sort defined in the sortAppend option will be applied. More explicitly:

There are three options to determine the sort order and this is the order of priority:

1. sortForce forces the user to have this/these column(s) sorted first (null by default).
2. SortList is the initial sort order of the columns.
3. SortAppend is the default sort that is added to the end of the users sort selection (null by default).

The value of these sort options is an array of arrays and can include one or more columns. The format is an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]].

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    sortForce  : [[0,0]],        // Always sort first column first
    sortList   : [[1,0], [2,0]], // initial sort columns (2nd and 3rd)
    sortAppend : [[3,0]]         // Always add this sort on the end (4th column)
  });
});

The value contains an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]]. Please see sortForce for more details on other sort order options.

This option can also be set using jQuery data (v2.3.1) or metadata on the table:

** Note: data-sortlist data is not supported in jQuery versions older than 1.4.
jQuery data	<table data-sortlist="[[0,0],[4,0]]"> **
Meta data	<table class="tablesorter {sortlist: [[0,0],[4,0]]}">

For example, can be used to sort people alphabetically after some other user-selected sort that results in rows with the same value like dates or money due. It can help prevent data from appearing as though it has a random secondary sort.

The value contains an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]]. Please see sortForce for more details on other sort order options.

This order can also be set by desired column using the headers option (Added in v2.0.8).

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority (Modified v2.3.1):

• jQuery data data-sortInitialOrder="asc".
• metadata class="{ sortInitialOrder: 'asc'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { sortInitialOrder : 'asc' } }.
• header class name class="sortInitialOrder-asc".
• Overall sortInitialOrder option.

• This option no longer switches the sort to use the String.localeCompare method.
• When this option is true, the text parsed from table cells will convert accented characters to their equivalent to allow the alphanumeric sort to properly sort.
• If false (default), any accented characters are treated as their value in the standard unicode order.
• The following characters are replaced for both upper and lower case (information obtained from sugar.js sorting equivalents table):
  • áàâãä replaced with a
  • ç replaced with c
  • éèêë replaced with e
  • íìİîï replaced with i
  • óòôõö replaced with o
  • úùûü replaced with u
  • ß replaced with S
• Please see the example page for instrcutions on how to modify the above equivalency table.
• If you would like to continuing using the String.localeCompare method, then set the sortLocaleCompare option to false and use the new textSorter option as follows:

  $('table').tablesorter({
    textSorter: function(a,b) {
      return a.localeCompare(b);
    }
  });

NOTE: See the Language wiki page for language specific examples and how to extend the character equivalent tables seen in the sortLocaleCompare demo.

Boolean flag indicating whenever to use javascript String.localeCompare method or not.
This is only used when comparing text with international character strings. A sort using localeCompare will sort accented characters the same as their unaccented counterparts.

Don't confuse this option with the sortReset method. This option only resets the column sort after a third click, while the method immediately resets the entire table sort.

String options was initially set in the header options only. Overall option added and values changed in version 2.1.16; setting the value to:

• "max" will treat any text in that column as a value greater than the max (more positive) value. Renamed from "max+".
• "min" will treat any text in that column as a value greater than the min (more negative) value. Renamed from "max-".
• "top" will always sort the text to the top of the column.
• "bottom" will always sort the text to the bottom of the column.
• "none" or "zero" will treat the text as if it has a value of zero.

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority:

• jQuery data data-string="top".
• metadata class="{ string: 'top'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { string : 'top' } }.
• header class name class="string-top".
• Overall stringTo option.

Change this option if you are not using the default css, or if you are using a completely custom stylesheet.

When changing this theme option, make sure that the appropriate css theme file has also been loaded. Included theme files include: see all themes

You can customize the text extraction by writing your own text extraction function "myTextExtraction" which you define like:

var myTextExtraction = function(node, table, cellIndex){
  // extract data from markup and return it
  // originally: return node.childNodes[0].childNodes[0].innerHTML;
  return $(node).find('selector').text();
}
$(function(){
  $("#myTable").tableSorter( { textExtraction: myTextExtraction } );
});

tablesorter will pass the current table cell object for you to parse and return. Thanks to Josh Nathanson for the examples. Updated to a jQuery example by Rob G (Mottie).

Now if the text you are finding in the script above is say a number, then just include the headers sorter option to specify how to sort it. Also in this example, we will specify that the special textExtraction code is only needed for the second column ("1" because we are using a zero-based index). All other columns will ignore this textExtraction function.

Added table and cellIndex variables to the textExtraction function in version 2.1.2.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textExtraction: {
      1: function(node, table, cellIndex) {
           return $(node).find("span:last").text();
      }
    },
    headers: {
      1: { sorter : "digit" }
    }
  });
});

Include a script like naturalSort.js as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textSorter : naturalSort
  });
});

or use the localeCompare sort

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textSorter: function(a,b) {
      return a.localeCompare(b);
    }
  });
});

There's no need to worry about reverse sorting, it's taken care of by the plugin.

true	U.S.	1,234,567.89
false	German: French:	1.234.567,89 1 234 567,89

Prior to v2.4, this option set pixel widths to added colgroups to fix the column widths. This is useful for the Pager companion.
Requires the jQuery dimension plugin to work. This is now part of the jQuery core.

Previously documented widget options widgetZebra, widgetColumns and widgetUitheme will be retained for backwards compatibility.

Use the widgetOptions option as follows, please note that each option is followed by a comma (except the last one):

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({

    // initialize a bunch of widgets
    widgets: ["zebra", "uitheme", "columns", "filter", "resizable", "stickyHeaders"],

    widgetOptions: {

      // *** columns widget ***
      // change the default column class names
      columns : [ "primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ],
      // include thead when adding class names
      columns_thead : true,
      // include tfoot when adding class names
      columns_tfoot : true,

      // *** filter widget ***
      // Include child rows content in the search
      filter_childRows     : false,
      // show column filters
      filter_columnFilters : true,
      // css class applied to the filter row inputs/select
      filter_cssFilter     : "tablesorter-filter",
      // add custom filter functions using this option.
      filter_functions     : null,
      // if true, the filter row is hidden initially until hovered/focused.
      filter_hideFilters   : false,
      // if true, make all searches case-insensitive.
      filter_ignoreCase    : true,
      // jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters.
      filter_reset         : null,
      // typing delay in milliseconds before starting a search.
      filter_searchDelay   : 300,
      // if true, filter start from the beginning of the cell contents.
      filter_startsWith    : false,
      // filter all data using parsed content.
      filter_useParsedData : false,
      // Set to true for server-side filtering
      filter_serversideFiltering :  false,

      // *** stickyHeaders widget ***
      // css class name applied to the sticky header
      stickyHeaders : "tablesorter-stickyHeader",

      // *** resizable widget ***
      // if false, resized columns are not saved for next page reload
      resizable : true,

      // *** savesort widget ***
      // if false, the sort will not be saved for next page reload
      saveSort : true,

      // *** uitheme widget ***
      // include the name of the theme to use current options are
      // "jui" (default) and "bootstrap"
      uitheme : "jui",

      // *** zebra widget ***
      // class names to add, default is [ "even", "odd" ]
      zebra : ["ui-widget-content even", "ui-state-default odd"]

    }

  });
});

When the column styling widget is initialized, it automatically applied the default class names of "primary" for the primary sort, "secondary" for the next sort, "tertiary" for the next sort, and so on (add more as needed)... (v2.0.17). Use the widgetColumns option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetColumns: { css: ["primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ] }
  });
});

Used when the ui theme styling widget is initialized. It automatically applies the default class names of "ui-icon-arrowthick-2-n-s" for the unsorted column, "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-s" for the descending sort and "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-n" for the ascending sort. (v2.0.9). Find more jQuery UI class names by hovering over the Framework icons on this page: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/

Use the widgetUitheme option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["uitheme"], // initialize ui theme styling widget of the table
    widgetUitheme: {
      css: [
        "ui-icon-carat-2-n-s", // Unsorted icon
        "ui-icon-carat-1-s",   // Sort up (down arrow)
        "ui-icon-carat-1-n"    // Sort down (up arrow)
      ]
    }
  });
});

When the zebra striping widget is initialized, it automatically applied the default class names of "even" and "odd". Use the widgetZebra option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["zebra"], // initialize zebra striping of the table
    widgetZebra: { css: [ "normal-row", "alt-row" ] }
  });
});

Use the "columns" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns: [ "primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ]
    }
  });
});

Use the "columns_thead" option to add the column class names to the thead as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns_thead: true
    }
  });
});

Use the "columns_tfoot" option to add the column class names to the tfoot as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns_tfoot: true
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_childRows option include child row text as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_childRows : true
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_columnFilters option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_columnFilters : true
    }
  });
});

Use the "tablesorter-filter" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // css class applied to the table row containing the filters & the inputs within that row
      filter_cssFilter : "tablesorter-filter"
    }
  });
});

A new file has been included named "jquery.tablesorter.widgets-filter-formatter.js". It includes code to add jQuery UI and HTML5 controls via the filter_formatter option.

Most of the formatter functions have an option named valueToHeader which, when true adds a span to the header cell above the filter row and updates it with the current control's value (see example 2). If the option exists and is set to false, then the current value is added to the control's handle and css can be used to create a popup to show the current value (see example 1).

Another custom option named addToggle is included with the "uiSpinner", "html5Color" and "html5Number" code. This allows the user to disable the control to show all table rows. For the single sliders, "uiSlider" and "html5Range", the minimum value is used to clear the filter (show all rows).

The options included for each jQuery UI control only show basic options, but any or all of the jQuery UI options for that control can be included.

• To add the jQuery UI slider, follow this example:

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions : {
        filter_formatter : {
          0 : function($cell, indx){
            return $.tablesorter.filterFormatter.uiSpinner( $cell, indx, {
              value : 0,  // starting value
              min   : 0,  // minimum value
              max   : 50, // maximum value
              step  : 1,  // increment value by
              addToggle: true, // Add a toggle to enable/disable the control
              valueToHeader: false // add current slider value to the header cell
            });
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Any of the other jQuery UI spinner widget options can also be included.
  
  
• Filter formatter functions include: "uiSpinner", "uiSlider", "uiRange" (uiSlider ranged), "uiDatepicker" (range only), "html5Number", "html5Range" and "html5Color".
• For other examples, please refer to the example pages. Formatter part 1 (example 1) adds jQuery UI controls to the filter row, while formatter part 2 (example 2) adds HTML5 controls, if supported, to the filter row.

Use the "filter_functions" option in three different ways:

• Make a sorted select dropdown list of all column contents. Repeated content will be combined.

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        filter_functions: {
          // Add select menu to this column
          // set the column value to true, and/or add "filter-select" class name to header
          0 : true
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Alternately, instead of setting the column filter funtion to true, give the column header a class name of "filter-select". See the demo.
  
  
• Make a select dropdown list with custom option settings. Each option must have a corresponding function which returns a boolean value; return true if there is a match, or false with no match.

  Regex example

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        filter_functions: {
          // Add these options to the select dropdown (regex example)
          2 : {
            "A - D" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[A-D]/.test(e); },
            "E - H" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[E-H]/.test(e); },
            "I - L" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[I-L]/.test(e); },
            "M - P" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[M-P]/.test(e); },
            "Q - T" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[Q-T]/.test(e); },
            "U - X" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[U-X]/.test(e); },
            "Y - Z" : function(e, n, f, i) { return /^[Y-Z]/.test(e); }
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Comparison example

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        filter_functions: {
          // Add these options to the select dropdown (numerical comparison example)
          // Note that only the normalized (n) value will contain numerical data
          // If you use the exact text, you'll need to parse it (parseFloat or parseInt)
          4 : {
            "< $10"      : function(e, n, f, i) { return n < 10; },
            "$10 - $100" : function(e, n, f, i) { return n >= 10 && n <=100; },
            "> $100"     : function(e, n, f, i) { return n > 100; }
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Note: if the filter_ignoreCase option is true, it DOES alter the normalized value (n) by making it all lower case.
  
  
• Make a custom filter for the column.

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        filter_functions: {
          // Exact match only
          1 : function(e, n, f, i) {
            return e === f;
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Note: if the filter_ignoreCase option is true, it DOES alter the normalized value (n) by making it all lower case.
  
  

Use the filter_hideFilters option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_hideFilters : true
    }
  });
});

You can change the style (thickness) of the hidden filter row in the tablesorter theme css. Look for .tablesorter-filter-row (revealed row) and .tablesorter-filter-row.hideme (for the hidden row) css definitions.

Use the filter_ignorecase option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_ignoreCase : false
    }
  });
});

To use this option, point to a reset button or link using a jQuery selector. For example, add this button (<button class="reset">Reset</button>) to the table header, or anywhere else on the page. That element will be used as a reset for all column and quick search filters (clears all fields):

Use the filter_reset option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_reset : '.reset'
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_searchDelay option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_searchDelay : 500
    }
  });
});

If you want to want to initialize the filter without user input, target any one of the filters and trigger a "search".

// target the first filter input
// this method will begin the search after the searchDelay time
$('input.tablesorter-filter:eq(0)').trigger('search');

// this method will begin the search immediately
$('input.tablesorter-filter:eq(0)').trigger('search', false);

In tablesorter v2.4+, the trigger can be applied directly to the table:

// refresh the widget filter; no delay
$('table').trigger('search', false);

Use the filter_serversideFiltering option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_serversideFiltering : true
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_startsWith option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_startsWith : true
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_useParsedData option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_useParsedData : false
    }
  });
});

• To only use parsed data in specific columns, set this option to false and use any of the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority:
  • jQuery data data-filter="parsed".
  • metadata class="{ filter: 'parsed'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
  • headers option headers : { 0 : { filter : 'parsed' } }.
  • header class name class="filter-parsed".
• Remember that parsed data most likely doesn't match the actual table cell text, 20% becomes 20 and Jan 1, 2013 12:01 AM becomes 1357020060000.

Use the "stickyHeaders" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["stickyHeaders"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // css class name applied to the sticky header
      stickyHeaders : "tablesorter-stickyHeader"
    }
  });
});

Use the "resizable" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["resizable"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // css class name applied to the sticky header
      resizable : false
    }
  });
});

Use the "saveSort" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["saveSort"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // if false, the sort will not be saved for next page reload
      saveSort : false
    }
  });
});

// Extend the themes to change any of the default class names ** NEW **
$.extend($.tablesorter.themes.jui, {
  // change default jQuery uitheme icons - find the full list of icons
  // here: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/ (hover over them for their name)
  table      : 'ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-all', // table classes
  header     : 'ui-widget-header ui-corner-all ui-state-default', // header classes
  footerRow  : '',
  footerCells: '',
  icons      : 'ui-icon', // icon class added to the <i> in the header
  sortNone   : 'ui-icon-carat-2-n-s',
  sortAsc    : 'ui-icon-carat-1-n',
  sortDesc   : 'ui-icon-carat-1-s',
  active     : 'ui-state-active', // applied when column is sorted
  hover      : 'ui-state-hover',  // hover class
  filterRow  : '',
  even       : 'ui-widget-content', // even row zebra striping
  odd        : 'ui-state-default'   // odd row zebra striping
});

This widget option replaces the previous widgetUitheme. All theme css names are now contained within the $.tablesorter.themes variable. Extend the default theme as seen above.

The class names from the $.tablesorter.themes.{name} variable are applied to the table as indicated.

As before the jQuery UI theme applies the default class names of "ui-icon-arrowthick-2-n-s" for the unsorted column, "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-s" for the descending sort and "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-n" for the ascending sort. (Modified v2.1; Updated in v2.4). Find more jQuery UI class names by hovering over the Framework icons on this page: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/

Use the "uitheme" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    theme     : 'jui',       // set theme name from $.tablesorter.themes here
    widgets   : ["uitheme"], // initialize ui theme styling widget of the table
    widgetOptions: {
      uitheme : "jui"        // this is now optional in v2.7, it is overridden by the theme option 
    }
  });
});

To add a new theme, define it as follows; replace "custom" with the name of your theme:

$.tablesorter.themes.custom = {
  table      : 'table',       // table classes
  header     : 'header',      // header classes
  footerRow  : '',
  footerCells: '',
  icons      : 'icon',        // icon class added to the <i> in the header
  sortNone   : 'sort-none',   // unsorted header
  sortAsc    : 'sort-asc',    // ascending sorted header
  sortDesc   : 'sort-desc',   // descending sorted header
  active     : 'sort-active', // applied when column is sorted
  hover      : 'hover',       // hover class
  filterRow  : 'filters',     // class added to the filter row
  even       : 'even',        // even row zebra striping
  odd        : 'odd'          // odd row zebra striping
}

Use the "zebra" option to change the theme as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["zebra"], // initialize zebra striping of the table
    widgetOptions: {
      zebra: [ "normal-row", "alt-row" ]
    }
  });
});