Preamble

With DataTables you can alter the sorting characteristics of the table at initialisation time. Using the aaSorting initialisation parameter, you can get the table exactly how you want to present the information. The aaSorting parameter is an array of arrays where the first value is the column to sort on, and the second is 'asc' or 'desc' as required (it is a double array for multi-column sorting). The table below is sorted (descending) by the CSS grade. Note also that the 'Engine version' column is automatically detected as a numeric column and sorted accordingly.

Live example

Initialisation code

$(document).ready(function() {
	$('#example').dataTable( {
		"aaSorting": [[ 4, "desc" ]]
	} );
} );

Other examples

Basic initialisation

• Zero configuration
• Feature enablement
• Sorting data
• Multi-column sorting
• Multiple tables
• Hidden columns
• DOM positioning
• State saving
• Alternative pagination styles
• Change language information (internationalisation)

Advanced initialisation

• Events (pre initialisation)
• Events (post initialisation)
• Column rendering
• Sorting without HTML tags
• Row callback
• Footer callback
• Ajax source
• Change language information from a file (internationalisation)

API

• Dynamically add a new row
• Dynamically create a table
• Individual column filtering
• Highlight rows and columns
• User selectable rows (multiple rows)
• User selectable rows (single row) and delete rows
• Editable rows (with jEditable)
• Submit form with elements in table
• Add custom API functions (plug-ins)

Please refer to the DataTables documentation for full information about it's API properties and methods.