Expanded US datetime sorting

Updated plugin allows for more flexibility in handling dates and times
in standard U.S. mm/dd/yyyy format. Makes time optional.

sorting/datetime-us.js

@@ -1,16 +1,20 @@
-/*
- * Adds a new sorting option to dataTables called `datetime-us`.
- * 
- * Also included is a type detection plug-in. Matches and sorts date / time
- * strings in the format: `(m)m/(d)d/(yy)yy (h)h/m(m) (am|pm)`. For example:
+/**
+ * DataTables plug-in to handle U.S.-style dates. Requires month day year.  
+ * Time is optional and can be in 12 or 24 hour formats. 
+ * Properly parses mm/m, dd/d and yyyy/yy.
  *
- * * 1/1/13 1:4 pm
- * * 01/01/2013 01:04 PM
- * * 1/1/2013 1:04 Pm
+ * Examples of readable formats: 
+ * * 6/1/14 1:4 pm
+ * * 06/01/2014 01:04 PM
+ * * 6/1/2014 1:04 Pm
+ * * 06/01/2014 13:04
+ * * 06/01/2014
+
+ * Based on original datetime-us plugin by Kevin Gravier.
  *
- *  @name Date / time - US
- *  @summary Sort date / time in the format `m/d/yy h:m am|pm`
- *  @author [Kevin Gravier](http://mrkmg.com/)
+ *  @name Flexible US Datetime
+ *  @summary Sort dates and times in US mm/dd/yyyy with optional time.
+ *  @author Mark Stewart
  *
  *  @example
  *    $('#example').dataTable( {
@@ -18,61 +22,57 @@
  *         { type: 'datetime-us', targets: 0 }
  *       ]
  *    } );
-*/
-jQuery.extend(jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort, {
-    "datetime-us-pre": function (a) {
-        var b = a.match(/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{2,4}) (\d{1,2}):(\d{1,2}) (am|pm|AM|PM|Am|Pm)/),
+ */
+ 
+jQuery.extend( jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.oSort, {
+    "datetime-us-pre": function ( a ) {
+        // Set optional items to zero
+        var hour = 0,
+            min = 0,
+            ap = 0;
+            
+        // Execute match. Requires month, day, year. Can be mm/dd or m/d. Can be yy or yyyy
+        // Time is optional. am/pm is optional
+        var b = a.match(/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{2,4})( (\d{1,2}):(\d{1,2}))? ?(am|pm|AM|PM|Am|Pm)?/),
             month = b[1],
             day = b[2],
-            year = b[3],
-            hour = b[4],
-            min = b[5],
-            ap = b[6].toLowerCase();
-
-        if (hour == '12') {
-            hour = '0';
-            if (ap == 'pm') {
-                hour = parseInt(hour, 10) + 12;
-            }
-
-            if (year.length == 2) {
-                if (parseInt(year, 10) < 70) {
-                    year = '20' + year;
-                }
-                else {
-                    year = '19' + year;
-                }
-            }
-            if (month.length == 1) {
-                month = '0' + month;
-            }
-            if (day.length == 1) {
-                day = '0' + day;
-            }
-            if (hour.length == 1) {
-                hour = '0' + hour;
-            }
-            if (min.length == 1) {
-                min = '0' + min;
-            }
-
-            var tt = year + month + day + hour + min;
-            return tt;
+            year = b[3];
+        // If time exists then output hours and minutes
+        if (b[4] != undefined) {
+            hour = b[5];
+            min = b[6];
         }
-    },
-
-    "datetime-us-asc": function (a, b) {
-            return a - b;
-    },
+        // if using am/pm then change the hour to 24 hour format for sorting
+        if (b[7] != undefined) {
+            ap = b[7].toLowerCase();
+            if(hour == '12') hour = '0';
+            if(ap == 'pm') hour = parseInt(hour, 10)+12;
+        }
+        // for 2 digit years, changes to 20__ if less than 70
+        if(year.length == 2){
+            if(parseInt(year, 10) < 70) year = '20'+year;
+            else year = '19'+year;
+        }
+        // Converts single digits
+        if(month.length == 1) month = '0'+month;
+        if(day.length == 1) day = '0'+day;
+        if(hour.length == 1) hour = '0'+hour;
+        if(min.length == 1) min = '0'+min;
 
-    "datetime-us-desc": function (a, b) {
-        return b - a;
-    }
+        var tt = year+month+day+hour+min;
+        return tt;   
+  },
+  "datetime-us-asc": function ( a, b ) {
+    return a - b;
+  },
+  "datetime-us-desc": function ( a, b ) {
+    return b - a;
+  }
 });
 
 jQuery.fn.dataTableExt.aTypes.unshift(
     function (sData) {
-        if (sData !== null && sData.match(/\d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{2,4} \d{1,2}:\d{1,2} (am|pm|AM|PM|Am|Pm)/)) {
+        if (sData !== null && sData.match(/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{1,2})\/(\d{2,4})( (\d{1,2}):(\d{1,2}))? ?(am|pm|AM|PM|Am|Pm)?/)) {
 
             return 'datetime-us';
         }