NSMutableArray sorting

Source: http://adeem.me/blog/2009/05/02/tutorial-tips-sorting-filtering-filter-nsmutablearray-and-sorting-nsmutablearray-by-ascending-or-objects-items-or-specified-key-or-key-value-or-by-nsnumber/

1. Sorting NSArray/NSMutableArray:

Sorting NSMutableArray is very simple:

NSMutableArray *arrayToFilter = [[NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects:@"Photoshop", @"Flex", @"AIR",@"Flash", @"Acrobat", @"<span id="IL_AD7" class="IL_AD">After Effects</span>", @"ColdFusion", @"Dreamweaver", nil] autorelease];

NSMutableArray *productsToRemove = [[NSMutableArray array] autorelease];

for (NSString *products in arrayToFilter) {

if (fliterText &amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp; [products rangeOfString:fliterText options:NSLiteralSearch|NSCaseInsensitiveSearch].length == 0)

[productsToRemove addObject:products];

}

[arrayToFilter removeObjectsInArray:productsToRemove];

2. Creating NSMutableArray based on searched text in Array:

NSMutableArray *arrayToFilter = [NSMutableArray arrayWithObjects:@"Photoshop", @"Flex", @"AIR",@"Flash", @"Acrobat", @"After Effects", @"ColdFusion", @"Dreamweaver", nil];

NSMutableArray *productsToRemove = [NSMutableArray array];

for (NSString *products in arrayToFilter) {

if (fliterText &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; [products rangeOfString:fliterText options:NSLiteralSearch|NSCaseInsensitiveSearch].length == 0)

[productsToRemove addObject:products];

}

[arrayToFilter removeObjectsInArray:productsToRemove];

3. Sorting NSMutableArray (based on key) which contains objects 
First, you’ll need to create an NSSortDescriptor and tell it which key to sort the array on.

NSSortDescriptor *lastNameSorter = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc] initWithKey:@"lastName"ascending:YES];

[personList sortUsingDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:lastNameSorter]];