tablesorter is a jQuery plugin for turning a standard HTML table with THEAD and TBODY tags into a sortable table without page refreshes. tablesorter can successfully parse and sort many types of data including linked data in a cell.

Documentation

• See the full documentation.
• All of the original document pages have been included.
• Information from my blog post on undocumented options and lots of new demos have also been included.
• Change log moved from included text file into the wiki documentation.

Demos

• Basic alpha-numeric sort Demo.
• Links to demo pages can be found within the main documentation.
• More demos & playgrounds - updated in the wiki pages.

Features

• Multi-column alphanumeric sorting.
• Multi-tbody sorting - see the options table on the main document page.
• Parsers for sorting text, alphanumeric text, URIs, integers, currency, floats, IP addresses, dates (ISO, long and short formats) & time. Add your own easily.
• Support for ROWSPAN and COLSPAN on TH elements.
• Support secondary "hidden" sorting (e.g., maintain alphabetical sort when sorting on other criteria).
• Extensibility via widget system.
• Cross-browser: IE 6.0+, FF 2+, Safari 2.0+, Opera 9.0+.
• Small code size.
• Works with jQuery 1.2.6+ (jQuery 1.4.1+ needed with some widgets).

Licensing

• Copyright (c) 2007 Christian Bach.
• Original examples and docs at: http://tablesorter.com.
• Dual licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses.

Change Log

View the complete listing here.

Version 2.4.3 (10/13/2012)

• Fixed an error with the filter widget using parsed data. Fixes issue #149.

Version 2.4.2 (10/13/2012)

• Updated the Bootstrap theme:
  • Bootstrap demo version updated to v2.1.1.
  • Darkened header gradient - see issue #142.
  • Made some other tweaks to clean up the theme - bold header text, select box sizes (pager), etc.
• Updated LESS theme to include filter widget styling, column widget footer styling and themes.
• Updated updateCell method to not use jQuery's closest() function which is not supported by jQuery v1.2.6.
• Changed tablesorter selectorRemove option default to ".remove-me" (see the pager plugin ajax change below).
• Fixed sticky headers not scrolling horizontally. Fixes issue #.
• Fixed pager plugin Ajax:
  • Ajax loaded tables will no longer hide pages other than the first. Fixes issue #151.
  • Ajax header data now properly replaces the header text.
  • The error message row is now added with the class name from the selectorRemove option.

Version 2.4.1 (9/29/2012)

• Fixed uitheme widget:
  • A second div is now wrapped around the table cell contents.
  • This allows using relative & absolute positioning on the content as Firefox does not support this directly on table cells.
• Fixed support for jQuery v1.2.6
  • Core modified to not use closest() function.
  • Resizable widget modified to not use closest() &amp isEmptyObject functions.

Version 2.4 (9/27/2012)

• Core changes:

  • Table bodies are now detached before processing the contents. There is a noticable speed increase when sorting large tables, especially in IE. Fix for issue #72 and possibly issue #75.

  • Changed cssChildRow option default from expand-child to tablesorter-childRow to make it more clear.

  • Changed selectorHeaders option default from '> thead th' to `'> thead th, > thead td' to include non-header cells.

  • Fixed sortAppend being applied multiple times when sorting multiple columns. Fix for issue #115.

  • Fixed updateCell method to correctly target the table cell from the cache.

  • Fixed something, somewhere to fix issue #128 LOL... darn you IE!

  • Updated the widthFixed option to set the column widths as a percentage instead of pixels to better resize the table dynamically.

  • Updated the script so that data-column attributes are no longer removed from disabled columns. This fixes an issue where filter-false doesn't apply to disabled columns.

  • Updated the widgets option so that the order of widgets no longer matters. The array now is sorted in reverse alphabetical order, but the zebra widget is always applied last. See the table here.

  • Updated the $.tablesorter.isDigit() function to ensure that no errors pop up when giving it an element of type number. Fix for issue #121.

  • Updated the natural sort function to better sort numbers with leading zeros. See this issue for more details.

  • Updated the code to always check that the sortList option contains numeric values. See issue #127.

  • Updated the date parser to not be so rigid. See issue #125.

  • Updated several internal functions to keep tablesorter compatible with jQuery 1.2.6. Fixs issue #124.

  • Tablesorter can no longer be initialized multiple times on the same table, unless the destroy method is called.

  • Bound events now have unbind executed before bind to fix an issue with Microsoft ajax.net. See issue #119.

  • Added cssHeaderRow option

    • This option contains the class name added to the header row.
    • Previously it got the same class name as cssHeader.
    • Default value is "tablesorter-headerRow".

  • Added cssIcon option:

    • This option contains the class name added to the <i> element that is now automatically added to every header cell.
    • To prevent the plugin from adding an <i> element to the headers, set this option to an empty string.
    • Default value is "tablesorter-icon".

  • Added theme option & new themes!

    • Default theme is now default.
    • Note that ALL of the documentation demos now need the theme option set to "blue" to apply the blue theme.
    • Thanks to thezoggy, numerous themes have been added including default, ice, black-ice, dark & dropbox.
    • Updated hovered row styling to include child rows in some themes (blue, green and less themes).
    • See the column widget update for details on styling of the thead and tfoot cells as well.
    • Removed the blue and green zipped theme files.

  • Added selectorSort option:

    • This option allows you to set which element within the table header triggers the sort.
    • Previously the entire header cell would trigger a sort so any extra elements within the cell would not be clickable.
    • See issue #137.

  • Added cssProcessing option:

    • When true, an indeterminate progress icon is added to the header while tablesorter is sorting or filtering columns.
    • It is disabled by default, but can be enabled by setting the showProcessing option to true.
    • The icon can also be shown using the API: $.tablesorter.isProcessing(table, toggle, $ths);
      • The table parameter is the table to target.
      • toggle is a boolean which when true will add the cssProcessing option class name to the header.
      • The last parameter $ths is optional. When set it will target specific header cells. If undefined, only the sorted headers will be targetted.
    • Note that for small tables, this processing icon may quickly flash and may be distracting. In larger tables, it will be more visible, but may not animate. I believe this is because of all the javascript processing going on (single threaded) prevents the animation from occurring - I'll try to find a better solution.

• Parsers:

  • All parsers now have publically available methods.
  • Access the parsers using $.tablesorter.parsers.
  • Get the desired parser code using parser = $.tablesorter.getParserById("parser_name").

• Widgets:

  • All widgets now have publically available methods:
  • Access the widgets using $.tablesorter.widgets.
  • Get the desired widget code using $.tablesorter.getWidgetById("widget_name").
  • Apply all selected widgets from the widgets option directly using $.tablesroter.applyWidget(table, initialize);, where initialize is a boolean indicating to run the widget's init function versus the format function. This is the same as triggering applyWidgets on the table.
  • All widgets now have a remove function which when called will remove the widget from the table, see the writing custom widgets demo page for an example.
  • Updated the destroy method to call all widget's remove function, if it exists.
  • Added a method to refresh widgets:
    • Trigger this method using $('table').trigger('refreshWidgets', [doAll, dontapply]);, or call it directly using $.tablesorter.refreshWidgets(table, doAll, dontapply)
    • If doAll is true it removes all widgets from the table. If false only non-current widgets (from the widgets option) are removed.
    • When done removing widgets, the widget re-initializes the currently selected widgets, unless the dontapply parameter is true leaving the table widget-less.
    • Note that if the widgets option has any named widgets, they will be re-applied to the table when it gets resorted. So if you want to completely remove all widgets from the table, also clear out the widgets option $('table')[0].config.widgets = [];
    • Enhancement request from issue #112.
  • Added a jQuery compatibility table to the WidgetOptions section to show the limitations of each widget. See issue #124.

• Columns widget updates:

  • The column class names from the widgetOptions.columns option can now be applied to the header row (including the sticky header) and footer row.
  • Added a new option named columns_thead which is true by default. Set it to false to not add the columns class name to the header.
  • Added a new option named columns_tfoot which is true by default. Set it to false to not add the columns class name to the footer.
  • In addition to the column class name, the tfoot also gets the class name for an ascending or desending sort obtained from the cssAsc and cssDesc option.
  • Added a remove function method.

• Filter widget changes:

  • Added the ability to enter operators into the filter. Added < <= >= > ! =.

    • To find values greater than 10, enter >10.
    • To find letters less than M, enter <m, but to find letters greater than M, enter >=n, because >m will include ma because ma > m.
    • To find people that aren't George, enter !George or to only look for males, enter !female. This doesn't work in the quick search filter because
    • Exact matches can be done using quotes, as before, or by using an equal sign =, e.g. find the exact number 10 by using 10=.
    • Note #1 In currency, percent or other numerical columns with numbers, the operators will ignore these extra symbols when parsing the value. So to find values greater than 10%, ignore the percent sign and use > 10.
    • Note #2 when using any of the above operators, the child row content is ignored even if filter_childRows is set to true.

  • Added filter_columnFilters option which when true will add a filter to each column. If false, no filter row is added.

  • Added filter_hideFilters option which when true will hide the filter row initially. The rows is revealed by hovering over the filter row or giving any filter input/select focus.

  • Added filter_reset option which will contain a jQuery selector pointing to a reset element (button or link).

  • Added filter_useParsedData option

    • When true, ALL filter searches will only use parsed data.
    • To only use parsed data in specific columns, set this option to false and use any of the following methods (they all do the same thing), 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.
    • Enhancement request from issue #96.

  • Added a method to apply a filter to the table when filter_columnFilters is false by triggering a search on the table.

    // search using an array - the index of the array matches the column index
    // [ column0, column1, column2, ..., columnN ]
    var columns = []; // undefined array elements are treated as an empty search ''
    columns[4] = '2?%'; // is equivalent to defining the array this way [ '', '', '', '2?%' ]
    $('table').trigger('search', [columns]);
    

  • Added "filterInit" triggered event on the table after the filter widget has finished initializing.

  • Added "filterStart" triggered event on the table. Enhancement request from issue #108.

  • Added "filterEnd" triggered event on the table. This is used by the updated pager plugin to allow it to work with the filter widget. Enhancement request from issue #108.

  • Modified filter select dropowns (still added by using filter-select or setting a filter_functions column to true):

    • By default the select will filter exact matches. To only match column content, add a "filter-match" class to the column. Fixes issue #102.
    • The contents of the select are now alphanumerically sorted. Fixes issue #103.

  • The filter widget should properly target columns when multiple header rows with column and row spans are included. Fixes issue #113.

  • Added a remove function method.

• Resizable widget update

  • Added an option resize to widgetOptions
    • When false the resized columns widths will not save to storage (localStorage/cookie).
    • Default is true which saves resized column widths.
  • Modified the resize method to smooth out the resizing.
  • Right clicking (opening the context menu) on the header will now reset the resizing of the columns. If you right-click on the header with no resized columns, the context menu will open as it normally does.
  • Added a remove function method.

• saveSort widget update

  • Added an option saveSort to widgetOptions
    • When false the saved sort in storage (localStorage/cookie) will still apply to the table upon initialization, but any new sorts will not save.
    • Default is true which loads the saved sort on initialization and saves, and overwrites, any new sorts of the table.
    • Added a remove function method which only clears the saved sort.

• Sticky Headers Widget update

  • This widget now clones the entire thead for stickyfying ( yes, I know that isn't a real word :P ). This is a similar method used by jmosbech in his StickyTableHeaders plugin.
  • Header rows containing column and row spans should now correctly align.
  • Attempted to correct the border spacing issue in non-webkit browsers. It's not perfect, so this may be tweaked in the future to make it pixel perfect, if that is ever possible.
  • Added a remove function method.

• UITheme widget updated to be more generalized:

  • This widget will now apply a jQuery UI or Bootstrap theme. It was designed to me extendable to other platforms.

  • Added a Bootstrap theme demo. This demo also includes the filter widget with the pager plugin to show their interaction and other styling possibilities.

  • To extend the uitheme widget to other platforms, add/extend the theme in the $.tablesorter.themes variable contained in the jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js file.

  • To add either a jQuery UI or Bootstrap theme to the table, set it up as follows (also see the jQuery UI or Bootstrap demo):

    $("table").tablesorter({
      // widget code now contained in the jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js file
      widgets : [ 'uitheme', 'zebra' ],
      widgetOptions : {
        // set the uitheme widget to use the jQuery UI theme class names ## NEW ##
        uitheme : 'jui' // or 'bootstrap'
      }
    });
    

    • The widgets option must include the uitheme widget.
    • The widgetOptions for uitheme now only contains the name of the platform to use (previously it was the 3 icon class names to use). For now, use either jui for jQuery UI or bootstrap for a Twitter Bootstrap theme.

  • I am working on changing tablesorter's core to do all of this automatically, so if it works out it will be available in tablesorter version 3 and this widget will be obsolete.

  • Bootstrap theme enhancement requested in issue #104.

  • Added a remove function method.

• Zebra widget updates:

  • It will no longer apply to nested tables. Fix for issue #98 and also fixed by styson in issue #116. Thanks!
  • The zebra widget is needed if using the bootstrap striped theme. See the Bootstrap demo for an example. Fixes issue #111.
  • The tbody is no longer hidden (or removed) when applying row class names. It appears to not change the speed significantly. But please feel free to report any speed issues.
  • Added a remove function method.

• Pager addon changes:

  • The pager plugin now plays nice with the filter widget.

  Fixes issue #6.

  • Added cssGoto option which contains a jQuery selector pointing to a page select dropdown. Updated the pager demo with an example.
  • Updated pager addong to now work with the filter and advanced filter widgets.
  • Added {filteredRows} and {filteredPages} parameters to the output option. They contain the number of rows and pages that result from the filter widget search.

• Updated the jquery.metadata.js file to the latest version and modified the code to better work with JSHint.

Version 2.3.11 (7/12/2012)

• Merged in mmeisel's ipAddress parser fix. Optimized the format code.
• Merged in two fixes from wwalser. Thanks for finding and fixes this issue!
• Made the sort functions public. This is in anticipation of using the natural sort function in the filter widget to sort select options.

Version 2.3.10 (6/21/2012)

• Fixed the filter widget causing an error when initialized on an empty table. Fixes issue #95. Thanks to Raigen for all of the diligent testing!