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).
• Works with jQuery 1.9+ ($.browser.msie was removed; needed in the original version).

Licensing

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

Special Thanks

• Big shout-out to Nick Craver for getting rid of the eval() function that was previously needed for multi-column sorting.
• Big thanks to thezoggy for helping with code, themes and providing valuable feedback.
• Big thanks to ThsSin- for taking over for a while and also providing valuable feedback.
• And, of course thanks to everyone else that has contributed, and continues to contribute to this forked project!

Change Log

View the complete listing here.

Version 2.13.3 (11/9/2013)

• Pager (plugin/widget)

  • Fixed initial filter settings when using pager ajax. Fixes issue #388.
  • Fixed ajax pager not recognizing column sorting. Fixes issue #408.
  • The core plugin now remove rows from table when using pager ajax. Fixes issue #411.

• Filter widget

  • Renamed all variables & restructured the entire widget.
  • Added better integration with the pager plugin/widget to minimize ajax server calls by getting default filter settings. Fixes issue #388.
  • Fixed filter formatter HTML5 spinner to properly find exact matches.
  • Added a new fuzzy search parameter
    • Fuzzy searches match sequential characters, similar to how Sublime Text searches work
    • Start the search with a tilde ~ followed by any sequential characters to match.
    • Examples: ~bee will match both "Bruce Lee" and "Brenda Lee", ~bcd will find "Brandon Clark" and ~piano will find "Philip Aaron Wong"
  • Added filter_anyMatch
    • Set this option to true when using an external search filter.
    • Setting this option should work properly with or without the column filters. The only issue you would have is if you triggered a search on the table using an array with undefined or null array values.
    • Some limitations are applied when using any match. Search operators, range queries and not-matches are not allowed.
    • See the demo for examples & more details.
    • Thanks to @prainho for the suggestion, code and feedback in issue #405!
  • Modified the bindSearch function to allow using it on external filters:
    • Use as follows: $.tablesorter.filter.bindSearch( $('table'), $('.search') );
    • Binding the search input using this method allows the search to use filter_liveSearch, delayed searching and pressing escape to clear the search.
    • See the filter any match demo for example usage.

• UITheme widget

  • Added caption styling
  • Updated css for jQuery UI theme and Bootstrap theme.

• Theme, demo & doc updates

  • Added jQuery UI theme switcher to jQuery UI theme demo & jQuery UI filter formatter demo.
  • Added ignore articles parser to saveSort widget demo.
  • Updated history of changes made to cssAsc, cssDesc & cssHeader on the main documentation page. See issue #407.

Version 2.13.2 (11/2/2013)

• Updated pager & filter widget to work when the pager countChildRows option is true:
  • Filter widget now properly added a "filtered" class to child rows
  • Pager plugin & widget now properly calculate a correct total number of rows
  • See issue #396.
• Updated editable widget to target table cell children if they exist
  • This fixes the issue in IE where making a table element contenteditable is not allowed.
  • See issue #404 for further details.

Version 2.13.1 (10/31/2013)

• Fixed filter widget issues
  • filter indexing will now be correct, even if a "tablesorter-filter" input/select doesn't exist in the filter row
  • Already parsed filters (filter-formatter) will not attempt to reparse the value; problem was caused by parsed dates.

Version 2.13 (10/30/2013)

• Added a "Development" branch to the repository.

  • I have started development on version 3 of tablesorter and this branch will have a basic structure to allow modularization of tablesorter.
  • So far, only the tablesorter core has been restructured and reorganized.
  • Added basic Zepto support to the core and some basic widgets, this is a work-in-progress. See issue #398.

• Ensure resized headers have stored data, or provide a fallback. Fixes issue #394.

• Added pager countChildRows option (plugin & widget)

  • When true, the pager treats child rows as if it were a parent row and strictly enforces showing only the set number of pager rows.
  • This can cause problems as a child row may not appear associated with its parent, may be split across pages or possibly distort the table layout if the parent or child row contain row or cell spans.
  • When false the pager always includes the child row with its parent, ignoring the set pager size.
  • See issue #396.

• Removed triggered change event to fix issue #400.

• Merged in filter formatter fix for jQuery UI dateFormat conflict; pull #403. Thanks @Craga89!

• Grouping widget update

  • Added group_separator option which is used when a group-separator-# class name is applied
  • Updated grouping widget demo.

• Added a file-type parser

  • Optimally used with the grouping widget to sort similar file types (e.g. video extensions: .mp4, .avi, .mov, etc)
  • File type sorting demo added.

• Updated LESS theme to work properly with LESS 4.1+

• Other changes

  • Improved formatFloat() replace method.
  • Sorting a zero hex value (0x00) is now possible.

Version 2.12 (10/18/2013)

Core

• Added numberSorter option allowing you to modify the overall numeric sorter.

• Updated the textSorter option to allow setting a text sorter for each column.

  • The textSorter functon parameters have changed from (a, b, table, column) to (a, b, direction, column, table).
  • Restructured & combined sorting functions internally so that tablesorter will always sort empty cells no matter what sorting algorithm is used by the textSorter.
  • Renamed $.tablesorter.sortText() to $.tablesorter.sortNatural()
  • Added a new basic alphabetical sort algorithm $.tablesorter.sortText = function(a, b) { return a > b ? 1 : (a < b ? -1 : 0); }; which can be set using the textSorter option.
  • New examples can be found in the updated custom sort demo.

• Added fixedUrl option for use with the $.tablesorter.storage() function.

  • Setting this with a fixed name (it doesn't need to be a url) allows saving table data (saveSort widget, savePages in pager widget) for tables on multiple pages in a domain.
  • Additional storage options are described below under "Storage".

• An accurate number of table columns is now contained within table.config.columns. This accounts for multiple header rows, tds, ths, etc.

• Replaced .innerHTML with jQuery's .html() to fix issues in IE8. Fixes issue #385.

• Version numbers should now all be accurate, even in the comments.. at least this time ;). Fixes issue #386.

Pager

• In attempts to initialize the pager after the filter widget:
  • Added a pager widget (still beta testing) to allow initializing the pager after certain widgets (filter widget).
  • Updated tablesorter core (properly count table columns) & filter widget code to allow it to initialize on an empty table (thanks @stanislavprokopov!).
  • Hopefully one or both of these changes fixes issue #388.
  • New pager widget demos: basic & ajax.
• savePages option
  • Should no longer cause an error if stored data is malformed or unrecognized. Fixes issue #387.
  • The stored size and page is now cleared if the table is destroyed.
• Fixed an error occuring in IE when trying to determine if a variable is an array (toString function call not recognized). Fixes issue #390.
• Updated pager rendering to prevent multiple ajax calls.
• During this update, the pager page size would return as zero and set the totalPages value to inifinity. Yeah, it doesn't do that anymore; but you can still set the pager size to zero if you want!

Widgets

• Filter widget:
  • Should now properly initialize when the pager plugin/widget is used with ajax and/or the filter_serversideFiltering option is true. Fixes issue #388.
  • Please note that the select dropdowns still sort using the natural sort algorithm, but since it is using the function directly, empty cells will not sort based on the emptyTo option. If this is a big problem, let me know!
• Grouping widget:
  • Added group_callback option - this sets a callback function which allows modification of each group header label - like adding a subtotal for each group, or something. See the updated demo.
  • Added group_complete option which is "groupingComplete" by default. This is the name of the event that is triggered once the grouping widget has completed updating.
• Updated the editable widget:
  • Added editable_editComplete option which names the event that is triggered after tablesorter has completed updating the recent edit.
  • You can also bind to the change event for that editable element, but it may occur before tablesorter has updated its internal data cache.
• Storage
  • The $.tablesorter.storage() function now has options including the fixedUrl option described in the core section above.
  • Also added storage options which can be used for custom widgets: $.tablesorter.storage(table, key, value, { url : 'mydomain', id : 'table-group' }).
  • Additionally, for already build-in widgets, you can apply data-attributes to the table: <table class="tablesorter" data-table-page="mydomain" data-table-group="financial">...</table>.
  • For more details, please see issue #389.

Parsers

• Added an IPv6 parser
  • This parser will auto-detect (the is function checks for valid IPv6 addresses).
  • Added a new IPv6 parser demo.
  • Included rather extensive unit tests for just this parser o.O.

Version 2.11.1 (10/11/2013)

• Fixed an updating bug:
  • The pager was not updating properly
  • The updateComplete event was not firing when not using ajax.
  • Thanks @sbine for sharing the fix!

Version 2.11 (10/10/2013)

Core

• Initialized widgets (widgets with options) are now tracked to ensure widget options are extended when using "applyWidgets". Fixes issue #330.
• An javascript error no longer pops up when setting the delayInit option to true and using the saveSort widget (or triggering a sorton method). Fixes issue #346.
• Only visible columns will be considered when fixing column widths. Fixes issue #371.
• Merged in fix for jQuery version check (pull #338). This also fixes issue #379. Thanks @lemoinem!
• Removed natural sort's ability to sort dates. This shouldn't be a problem since tablesorter uses parsers detect & parse date columns automatically. Fixes issue #373.
• Fixed issue #381.
  • Any class name that is set by an option and is later used to search for that element now has an empty default class name.
  • The reasoning is that if a developer adds two class names to the option, the jQuery find breaks.
  • All default single class name options are now contained within $.tablesorter.css
  • Options affected include: tableClass, cssAsc, cssDesc, cssHeader, cssIcon, cssHeaderRow, cssProcessing in the core.
  • Note that the cssIcon option retains it's default class name & functionality to not add an <i> inside the table cell if this extra class name is undefined.
  • Widget options affected include: filter_cssFilter and stickyHeaders.
• Removed return false from header mouse/keyboard interaction. Fixes issue #305 & issue #366.

Parsers

• Fixed sugar date parser demo to point to the correct parser file and sugarjs resource.
• General cleaned up date, fraction and metric parsers & fixing of minor bugs.

Build Table Widget (new)

• Build a table starting with an assortment of data types ( array, text (CSV, HTML) or object (json) ).
• This widget isn't really a widget because it is run and does it's processing before tablesorter has initialized; but the options for it are contained within the tablesorter widgetOptions.

Column Widget

• General cleanup

Filter Widget

• Exact matches can still be made if the user enters an exact match indicator twice (i.e. John== will still find John in the column; before it would think the user was looking for John= after the second = was typed)
• Dynamically added filter reset buttons will now work automatically. Added by pull #327. Thanks @riker09!
• Chrome appears to have fixed the hidden input bug, so reverted changes to the basic filter demo. Fixes issue #341.
• The filter widget will work properly with sub-tables. Fixes issue #354. Thanks @johngrogg!
• Fixed issues with filter_columnFilters set to false. Fixes issue #355.
• Searches now have accents replaced if the sortLocaleCompare option is true. Fixes issue #357.
• Merged in enhancement for the filter widget & updated docs - add row to filter_functions parameters (issue #367, pull #368). Thanks @gknights!
• FilterFormatter jQuery UI Datepicker now includes the user selected time for comparisons. Thanks @TheSin-!
• Another fix to the filteFormatter jQuery UI Datepicker to make it work properly with the sticky header widget. Thanks @TheSin-!
• Removed filter_cssFilter default class name. The "tablesorter-filter" class name is automatically added, and this option now contains any additional class names to add. Fixes issue #381.

Grouping Widget

• The grouping widget now works across multiple tbodies.
• Added group-false header option which disables the grouping widget for a specific column. Fixes issue #344.
• Added the group_collapsed option which when true and the group_collapsible option is also true, all groups will start collapsed. Fulfills issue #352.
• You can now toggle all group rows by holding down the shift key while clicking on a group header.
• This widget now works properly with the pager addon (pager addon updated). Fixes issue #281.

StickyHeaders Widget

• Caption outerheight now used to get the correct full height of the caption. Thanks @TheSin-!
• stickyHeaders_zIndex option added to allow users to customize their sticky header z-index. Fixes issue #332. Thanks @TheSin-!

UITheme widget

• Updated Bootstrap theme to work with Bootstrap v3
  • Only additions were made to the sorting icons class names within in the $.tablesorter.themes.bootstrap defaults (contained in the jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js file).
  • So the theme will support all current versions of Bootstrap, just make sure you are using the appropriate icon class name (icon-{name} = v2; glyphicon glyphicon-{name} = v3).
  • Removed the gradient background from the header & footer cells.
  • Added a reduced icon font side for header sort icons.
  • Renamed the pager class from pager to ts-pager as Bootstrap adds a lot of padding to that class. See Bootstrap theme demo.
  • Thanks @YeaYeah for sharing how to fix the top border in issue #365.

Pager

• Fixed the removeRows option error when set to true.
• The pager now stores any object returned by the ajaxProcessing function in table.config.pager.ajaxData
  • The object should contain attributes for total (numeric), headers (array) and rows (array of arrays).
  • A replacement output option can also be loaded via this method and must be included in the output attribute (i.e. ajaxData.output).
  • Additional attributes are also available to the output display by using the attribute key wrapped in curly brackets (e.g. {extra} from ajaxData.extra).
  • Additional attributes can also be objects or arrays and can be accessed via the output string as {extra:0} (for arrays) or {extra:key} for objects.
  • The page number is processed first, so it would be possible to use this string {extra:{page}} ({page} is a one-based index), or if you need a different value use {page+1} (zero-based index plus any number), or {page-1} (zero-based index minus any number).
  • For more details, please see issue #326.
  • Thanks @camallen for the suggestions & feedback!
• The "updateComplete" event should now properly trigger after an ansynchronous ajax call has completed. Fixes issue #343.
• Added a new savePages option
  • Requires requires the $.tablesorter.storage script within the jquery.tablesorter.widget.js file to work properly.
  • When true, it saves pager page & size if the storage script is loaded (requires $.tablesorter.storage in jquery.tablesorter.widgets.js).
  • The pager will continue to function properly without the storage script, it just won't save the current page or pager size.
  • Fulfills enhancement request from issue #345.
• Removed table update when using ajax with a server that is already doing all of the work. Fixes issue #372 & issue #361. Thanks @sbine!
• Merged in change to count table th length after ajaxProcessing (pull #383). Thanks @harryxu!
• Reverted changes made in pull #349 as the error row was not showing because the urls did not exactly equal each other.
• Child rows within the pager will now properly display/hide. Fixes issue #348.
• Merged in fix for pager redundant ajax requests (pull #336). Thanks @camallen!
• Merged in fix for pager totalRows check (pull #324). Thanks @camallen!

Internal fixes

• Modified the pager plugin internal variables to use p for pager options and c for table config options - for consistency.
• Cleaned up the formatting of a few parsers (mostly cosmetic!)
• Some parser functions were added to the $.tablesorter object instead of keeping them as private functions, just because my OCD compelled me to do it.
• Some of the changes made the parsers are no longer backward compatible to the original version of tablesorter. Break away man, just do it!

Thanks

• Thanks to @thezoggy and @TheSin- for help maintaining and supporting the tablesorter github project while I was away!
• Also thanks to everyone else that contributed and even more thanks to those that helped troubleshoot and solve problems!