How to sort by Date with DataTables jquery plugin?

Click on the "show details" link under Date (dd/mm/YYY), then you can copy and paste that plugin code provided there

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Update: I think you can just switch the order of the array, like so:

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-asc']  = function(a,b) {
    var usDatea = a.split('/');
    var usDateb = b.split('/');

    var x = (usDatea[2] + usDatea[0] + usDatea[1]) * 1;
    var y = (usDateb[2] + usDateb[0] + usDateb[1]) * 1;

    return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ?  1 : 0));
};

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-desc'] = function(a,b) {
    var usDatea = a.split('/');
    var usDateb = b.split('/');

    var x = (usDatea[2] + usDatea[0] + usDatea[1]) * 1;
    var y = (usDateb[2] + usDateb[0] + usDateb[1]) * 1;

    return ((x < y) ? 1 : ((x > y) ?  -1 : 0));
};

All I did was switch the __date_[1] (day) and __date_[0] (month), and replaced uk with us so you won't get confused. I think that should take care of it for you.

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Update #2: You should be able to just use the date object for comparison. Try this:

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-asc']  = function(a,b) {
 var x = new Date(a),
     y = new Date(b);
 return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ?  1 : 0));
};

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-desc'] = function(a,b) {
 var x = new Date(a),
     y = new Date(b);
 return ((x < y) ? 1 : ((x > y) ?  -1 : 0));
};

You should make use of the HTML5 Data Attributes. https://www.datatables.net/examples/advanced_init/html5-data-attributes.html

Just add the data-order element to your td element.
No plugins required.

<table class="table" id="exampleTable">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Firstname</th>
            <th>Sign Up Date</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>

    <tbody>

        <tr>
            <td>Peter</td>
            <td data-order="2015-11-13 12:00">13. November 2015</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Daniel</td>
            <td data-order="2015-08-06 13:44">06. August 2015</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Michael</td>
            <td data-order="2015-10-14 16:12">14. October 2015</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>


<script>
    $(document).ready(function() {
        $('#exampleTable').DataTable();
    });
</script>

I realize this is a two year old question, but I still found it useful. I ended up using the sample code provided by Fudgey but with a minor mod. Saved me some time, thanks!

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-asc']  = function(a,b) { 
  var x = new Date($(a).text()),
  y = new Date($(b).text());
  return ((x < y) ? -1 : ((x > y) ?  1 : 0)); 
}; 

jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort['us_date-desc'] = function(a,b) { 
  var x = new Date($(a).text()),
  y = new Date($(b).text());
  return ((x < y) ? 1 : ((x > y) ?  -1 : 0)); 
}; 

Date Sort - with a hidden element

Convert the date to the format YYYYMMDD and prepend to the actual value (MM/DD/YYYY) in the <td>, wrap it in an element, set style display:none; to the elements. Now the date sort will work as a normal sort. The same can be applied to date-time sort.

HTML

<table id="data-table">
   <tr>
     <td><span>YYYYMMDD</span>MM/DD/YYYY</td>
   </tr>
</table>

CSS

#data-table span {
    display:none; 
}