Find the next closest date in MM/DD/YYY format JavaScript
There is no need for a sorting algorithm. You only need to iterate once and find the closest date that is greater or equals today.
Pseudocode
closest <- infinity
foreach date in dates:
if (date >= now and date < closest) then
closest <- d
return closest
JavaScript
const dates = [
'2/3/2015',
'7/5/2015',
'1/21/2016',
'2/19/2016',
'7/1/2016',
'10/22/2019',
'08/12/2019',
];
const now = new Date();
let closest = Infinity;
dates.forEach(function(d) {
const date = new Date(d);
if (date >= now && (date < new Date(closest) || date < closest)) {
closest = d;
}
});
console.log(closest);
Personally I would use a library such as the very good Moment.JS library, to handle all the horrible complexity of dates.
It has a difference method:
http://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/difference/
e.g.
var a = moment([2007, 0, 29]);
var b = moment([2007, 0, 28]);
a.diff(b) // 86400000
It would then be trivial to Math.min() the differences of each date in your list.
There's also a moment.min, which might shortcut this entirely, if all your dates are in the future already:
http://momentjs.com/docs/#/get-set/min/