Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/Intl/Collator

The Intl.Collator objects enable language sensitive string comparison.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

Constructor

Intl.Collator()

Creates a new Collator object.

Static methods

Intl.Collator.supportedLocalesOf()

Returns an array containing those of the provided locales that are supported without having to fall back to the runtime's default locale.

Instance methods

Intl.Collator.prototype.compare

Getter function that compares two strings according to the sort order of this Intl.Collator object.

Intl.Collator.prototype.resolvedOptions()

Returns a new object with properties reflecting the locale and collation options computed during initialization of the object.

Examples

Using Collator

The following example demonstrates the different potential results for a string occurring before, after, or at the same level as another:

console.log(new Intl.Collator().compare('a', 'c')); // → a negative value
console.log(new Intl.Collator().compare('c', 'a')); // → a positive value
console.log(new Intl.Collator().compare('a', 'a')); // → 0

Note that the results shown in the code above can vary between browsers and browser versions. This is because the values are implementation-specific. That is, the specification requires only that the before and after values are negative and positive.

Using locales

The results provided by Collator.prototype.compare() vary between languages. In order to get the sort order of the language used in the user interface of your application, make sure to specify that language (and possibly some fallback languages) using the locales argument:

// in German, ä sorts with a
console.log(new Intl.Collator('de').compare('ä', 'z'));
// → a negative value

// in Swedish, ä sorts after z
console.log(new Intl.Collator('sv').compare('ä', 'z'));
// → a positive value

Using options

The results provided by Collator.prototype.compare() can be customized using the options argument:

// in German, ä has a as the base letter
console.log(new Intl.Collator('de', { sensitivity: 'base' }).compare('ä', 'a'));
// → 0

// in Swedish, ä and a are separate base letters
console.log(new Intl.Collator('sv', { sensitivity: 'base' }).compare('ä', 'a'));
// → a positive value

Specifications

Specification

ECMAScript Internationalization API (ECMA-402)The definition of 'Intl.Collator' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
Collator	Chrome Full support 24	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 29	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support 56	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5	nodejs Full support 0.12 Notes' Full support 0.12 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for en-US is available by default. See the Collator() constructor for more details.
Collator() constructor	Chrome Full support 24	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 29	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support 56	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5	nodejs Full support 13.0.0 Full support 13.0.0 Partial support 0.12 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for en-US is available by default. When other locales are specified, the Collator instance silently falls back to en-US. To make full ICU (locale) data available for versions prior to 13, see Node.js documentation on the --with-intl option and how to provide the data.
compare	Chrome Full support 24	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 29	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support 56	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5	nodejs Full support 0.12 Notes' Full support 0.12 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for en-US is available by default. See the Collator() constructor for more details.
resolvedOptions	Chrome Full support 24	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 29	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support 56	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5	nodejs Full support 0.12 Notes' Full support 0.12 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for en-US is available by default. See the Collator() constructor for more details.
supportedLocalesOf	Chrome Full support 24	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 29	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 4.4	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support 56	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5	nodejs Full support 13.0.0 Full support 13.0.0 Partial support 0.12 Notes' Notes' Before version 13.0.0, only the locale data for en-US is available by default. To make full ICU (locale) data available for versions prior to 13, see Node.js documentation on the --with-intl option and how to provide the data.

Legend

Full support  

Full support

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

See also

• Intl

Intl.Collator by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.