• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  Sorting returned numerical values of a ‘For Loop’

  Posted by Dexter Decker on September 12, 2022 at 5:58 pm

  Hey,

  I have a control layer with a number of slider controls that I need sorted in numerical order, highest to lowest (all positive values). I’ve entered the following in the Source Text of a second layer and I get “TypeError: n.sort is not a function.”

   

  n = “”;

  for(i=1; i <5; i++){
  n += thisComp.layer(“Control”).effect(i)(1)
  n += “,”
  }
  n.sort(function(a,b){return a-b})

   

  If someone could help, I’d appreciate it.

   

  Thanks,

  Dex

  Dexter Decker replied 4 years ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Dan Ebberts

  September 12, 2022 at 6:11 pm

  This seems to work, but I’m not sure if it’s what you’re after:

  n = [];
  for (i = 1; i < 5; i++){
    n.push(thisComp.layer("Control").effect(i)(1));
  }
  n.sort(function(a,b){return a-b})
• 

  Dexter Decker

  September 12, 2022 at 6:39 pm

  Sir, you are the GOAT! I thought it was something screwy with the data type, I tried to declare it as an array but that didn’t work either. Never knew a push function existed, must do some more reading. I’ve been playing with expressions for years now, haven’t really had time to study it. Recently I’ve made a greater effort to understand the language rather than hunting out expressions and patching pieces from here and there (some pretty gnarly looking projects that “worked”). I’m a big fan of your work and dedication to the community, you’re an absolute legend! Thanks so much for your time. You’re helping a lot of creatives like me (been lurking here for years).

  All the best,

  Dex

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