When using the checkbox parser, this class name is added to the row along with this class name plus the column index when the targeted checkbox is checked.

For example, if the named parser file has been loaded & "sorter-checkbox" class is added to the first column header, then any checked checkbox in the first column will have "checked checked-0" class names added to the row.

Checkboxes in any other column, not targeted by the parser, will be ignored and no extra row class names will be added.

Changed to empty string ("") in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-headerAsc" class will always be added to a header cell with an ascending sort; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-headerAsc {
  background-color: #9fbfdf;
  background-image: url(black-asc.gif);
}

Default changed v2.5 to "tablesorter-headerAsc". Default changed v2.1.7 to "tablesorter-headerSortUp". Original default: "headerSortUp"

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-headerDesc" class will always be added to a header cell with a descending sort; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-headerDesc {
  background-color: #8cb3d9;
  background-image: url(black-desc.gif);
}

Default changed v2.5 to "tablesorter-headerDesc". Default changed v2.1.7 to "tablesorter-headerSortDown". Original default: "headerSortDown"

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-header" class will always be added to the table headers; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

Example from the blue theme:

.tablesorter-blue .tablesorter-header {
  background-color: #99bfe6;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: center right;
  padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;
  white-space: normal;
  cursor: pointer;
}

Default changed v2.1.7 to "tablesorter-header". Original default: "header"

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-headerRow" class will always be added to a table header row; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

This CSS style was added in v2.4, prior to that the row would get the same class as the header cells. This class was added to make it easier to determine what element was being targeted in the plugin.

In v2.21.1, adding multiple class names to this option is now properly supported.

As of v2.7, the icon will only be added to the header if both the cssIcon option is set AND the headerTemplate option includes the icon tag ({icon}).

In v2.4, an <i> element, with this class name, is automatically appended to the header cells. To prevent the plugin from adding an <i> element to the headers, set the cssIcon option to an empty string.

This class is only applied when the headerTemplate option includes a {icon} tag or an HTML element with the class name from the cssIcon option.

This class is only applied when the headerTemplate option includes a {icon} tag or an HTML element with the class name from the cssIcon option.

This class is only applied when the headerTemplate option includes a {icon} tag or an HTML element with the class name from the cssIcon option.

Header rows with this class name will not be added into the table.config.$headers variable.

This class name should be added to header rows that contain custom HTML, like for the pager controls, custom filter row or table toolbar.

With the addition of multiple tbody sorting in v2.2, you can now insert a non-sorting tbody within the table by adding this class to the tbody.

<tbody class="tablesorter-infoOnly">
  <tr>
    <th>The contents of this tbody</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>will not be sorted</td>
  </tr>
</tbody>

As an example, I've split up this options table into three (3) tbodies. The first contains the active options, the second is the info block with a row that only contains the text "Deprecated Options", and the last tbody contains the deprecated options. Sort the table to see how each tbody sorts separately.

NOTE! The pager plugin will only be applied to the first tbody, as always. I may work on modifying this behavior in the future, if I can figure out the best implementation.

A "tablesorter-headerUnSorted" class will always be added to an unsorted header cell; this option contains any additional class names to add. Currently, no themes use this class name.

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-processing" class will always be added to a table cells during processing; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

This class name is added to the header cell that is currently being sorted or filted. To prevent this class name from being added, set the showProcessing option to false.

• "mmddyyyy" (default)
• "ddmmyyyy"
• "yyyymmdd"

In previous versions, this option was set as "us", "uk" or "dd/mm/yy". This option was modified to better fit needed date formats. It will only work with four digit years!

The sorter should be set to "shortDate" and the date format can be set in the "dateFormat" option or set for a specific columns within the "headers" option. See the demo page to see it working.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({

    dateFormat : "mmddyyyy", // default date format

    // or to change the format for specific columns,
    // add the dateFormat to the headers option:
    headers: {
      0: { sorter: "shortDate" }, // "shortDate" with the default dateFormat above
      1: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "ddmmyyyy" }, // day first format
      2: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "yyyymmdd" }  // year first format
    }

  });
});

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority (Modified v2.3.1):

• jQuery data data-dateFormat="mmddyyyy".
• metadata class="{ dateFormat: 'mmddyyyy'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { dateFormat : 'mmddyyyy' } }.
• header class name class="dateFormat-mmddyyyy".
• Overall dateFormat option.

• bottom - sort empty table cells to the bottom.
• top - sort empty table cells to the top.
• none or zero - sort empty table cells as if the cell has the value equal to zero.
• emptyMax - sort empty table cells as having a value greater than the max (more positive) value (v2.16.2).
• emptyMin - sort empty table cells as having a value greater than the min (more negative) value (v2.16.2).

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority:

• jQuery data data-empty="top".
• metadata class="{ empty: 'top'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { empty : 'top' } }.
• header class name class="empty-top".
• Overall emptyTo option.

emptyToBottom option was added in v2.1.11, then replaced by the emptyTo option in v2.1.16.

For example, to disable sorting on the first two columns of a table: headers: { 0: { sorter: false}, 1: {sorter: false} }.

The plugin attempts to detect the type of data that is contained in a column, but if it can't figure it out then it defaults to alphanumeric. You can easily override this by setting the header argument (or column parser). See the full list of default parsers here or write your own.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headers: {

      // See example - Disable first header cell; parser false skips extracting content
      0: { sorter: false, parser: false },

      // See example 2: Sort column numerically & treat any text as if its value is:
      1: { sorter: "digit", empty:  "top" }, // zero; sort empty cells to the top
      2: { sorter: "digit", string: "max" }, // maximum positive value
      3: { sorter: "digit", string: "min" }, // maximum negative value

      // Sort the fifth column by date & set the format
      4: { sorter: "shortDate", dateFormat: "yyyymmdd" }, // year first format

      // See example 3: lock the sort order
      // this option will not work if added as metadata
      5: { lockedOrder: "asc" },

      // See Example 4: Initial sort order direction of seventh header cell
      6: { sortInitialOrder: "desc" },

      // Set filter widget options for this column
      // See the "Applying the filter widget" demo
      7: { filter: false },    // disable filter widget for this column
      8: { filter: "parsed" }, // use parsed data for this column in the filter search

      // Set resizable widget options for this column
      9: { resizable: false } // prevent resizing of header cell 9

    }
  });
});

Please note that the headers index values corresponds to the table header cells index (zero-based) and not the actual columns. For example, given the following table thead markup, the header-index counts the header th cells and does not actually match the data-column index when extra rows and/or colspan or rowspan are included in any of the header cells:

<thead>
  <tr>
    <th colspan="4" data-column="0">header-index 0</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th data-column="0">header-index 1</th>
    <th data-column="1">header-index 2</th>
    <th data-column="2">header-index 3</th>
    <th data-column="3">header-index 4</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th colspan="2" data-column="0">header-index 5</th>
    <th colspan="2" data-column="2">header-index 6</th>
  </tr>
</thead>

So, in the above example, to disable the sort of the second table column (data-column index of 1), the header cell of index 2 needs to be set as follows: 2 : { sorter : false }.

In v2.17.0, you can reference the column(s) using a class name, id or column index.

headers : {
    '.first-name' : { sorter: 'text' },
    '.disabled'   : { sorter: false }
}

Warning What won't work is if you try to target the header using a filtering selector that uses an index, e.g. "th:eq()", ":gt()", ":lt()", ":first", ":last", ":even" or ":odd", ":first-child", ":last-child", ":nth-child()", ":nth-last-child()", etc.

In v2.17.8, if this option is set to an empty string (''), an inner div will no longer be wrapped around the header content.

This template string has two modifying tags: {content} and {icon}.
{content} will be replaced by the current header HTML content.
{icon} will be replaced by <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>, but only if a class name is defined in the cssIcon option.

This template string may also contain HTML, e.g ('<em>{content}</em> {icon}')

After the template string is built, the onRenderTemplate function is called to allow further manipulation. Please read more about this onRenderTemplate function and/or check out the example (link to the right).

Change this setting to grab a different image attribute to be used for sorting:

$(function(){
  $('table').tablesorter({
    // parse image title (value to be used while sorting & filtering)
    imgAttr : 'title',
    headers : {
      0 : { sorter: 'image' } // this parser is auto-detected, but will only work on the first image
    }
  });
});

$(function(){

  // bind to tablesorter-initialized event BEFORE initializing tablesorter*
  $("table")
    .bind("tablesorter-initialized",function(e, table) {
      // do something after tablesorter has initialized
    });

  // initialize the tablesorter plugin
  $("table").tablesorter({
    // this is equivalent to the above bind method
    initialized : function(table){
      // do something after tablesorter has initialized
    }
  });

});

* Note: bind to all initialization events before initializing tablesorter; because most of the time, if bound after, the events will fire before the binding occurs.

When true, all widgets set by the widgets option will apply after tablesorter has initialized, this is the normal behavior.

If false, the each widget set by the widgets option will be initialized, meaning the "init" function is run, but the format function will not be run. This is useful when running the pager plugin after the table is set up. The pager plugin will initialize, then apply all set widgets.

Why you ask? Well, lets say you have a table with 1000 rows that will have the pager plugin applied to it. Before this option, the table would finish its setup, all widgets would be applied to the 1000 rows, pager plugin initializes and reapplies the widgets on the say 20 rows showing; making the widget application to 100 rows unnecessary and a waste of time. So, when this option is false, widgets will only be applied to the table after the pager is set up.

Notes about this namespace option:

• If a namesspace is not defined, a (hopefully) unique random namespace will be generated.
• If defined, any "non-word" characters (anything not "a-z", "0-9" or "_") within the namespace will be removed.
• Added or not, the namespace will be saved with a leading period (e.g. ".myuniquetableid")

$(function(){
  $("#mytable").tablesorter({
    // if table id = "mytable", this namespace is saved as ".mytable"
    namespace : $('#mytable')[0].id;
  });
});

Here is an example:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    numberSorter : function(a, b, direction, maxColumnValue){
      // direction; true = ascending; false = descending
      // maxColumnValue = the maximum value of that column (ignoring its sign)
      return a - b;
    }
  });
});

The direction parameter (boolean) is merely for informational purposes as the plugin automatically switches a and b depending on the sort direction ( i.e. there's no need to worry about reverse sorting, it's taken care of by the plugin ).

In versions 2.0.6+, all TH text is wrapped in a div with a class name of "tablesorter-inner" by default. In the example below, the header cell (TH) div is given a class name (source).
Function parameters:

• index - zero-based index of the current table header cell; this value is not indicative of the column index, as it is simply a count of header cells. So it will be effected by rowspan, colspan and multiple rows in the header.
• config - The current table.config.
• $table - This value is the current table jQuery object. If this function is being applied to cloned headers, as is does in the stickyHeaders widget, then this value will contain the sticky header clone added after the current table, and not the main table (v2.18.0).

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headerTemplate: '{content}',
    onRenderHeader: function (index, config, $table){
      $(this).find('div').addClass('roundedCorners');
    }
  });
});

and you'll end up with this HTML (only the thead is shown)

<thead>
  <tr>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner roundedCorners">Column 1</div></th>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner roundedCorners">Column 2</div></th>
  </tr>
</thead>

* Note: this function adds additional rendering time to the table if any DOM manipulation is done. Because this time will be on top of the processing time already added by the template.

The onRenderTemplate function receives a column index and template string parameters. The template string, from the headerTemplate option, will already have the {icon} and {content} tags replaced; it's just a string of formatted HTML. When done manipulating this string, return it. Here is an example:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    headerTemplate: '{icon}{content}',
    onRenderTemplate: function (index, template){
      return '<em>' + (index + 1) + ':</em> ' + template;
    }
  });
});

The template parameter can be manipulated as a string, or if you prefer, turn it into a jQuery object (var $t = $(template)) to find and replace content as desired. Just make sure you return a string (return $t.html())

From the example function above, you'll end up with something similar to this HTML (only the thead is shown)

<thead>
  <tr>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner"><em>1:</em> <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>First Name</div></th>
    <th class="tablesorter-header"><div class="tablesorter-header-inner"><em>2:</em> <i class="tablesorter-icon"></i>Last Name</div></th>
  </tr>
</thead>

* Note: If the cssIcon option is an empty string, the {icon} tag will also become an empty string.

Change this option if want to change the click event that is bound to the table headers. Add multiple events separated by spaces.

Warning If this option is set to fire multiple events (e.g. 'mouseup pointerup'), sorting may be initialized twice in rapid succession and make it appear that nothing changed.

Change this option if you're using pointer events (or the pointer events polyfill). Add multiple events separated by spaces.

Warning If this option is set to fire multiple events (e.g. 'mousedown pointerdown'), sorting may be initialized twice in rapid succession and make it appear that nothing changed.

Change this option if you're using pointer events (or the pointer events polyfill). Add multiple events separated by spaces.

Warning If this option is set to fire multiple events (e.g. 'mouseup pointerup'), sorting may be initialized twice in rapid succession and make it appear that nothing changed.

Specifically, this option applies to the "updateAll", "update", "addRows" and "updateCell" methods and is checked after the method has completed updating the internal cache.

If false, the widgets will still be refreshed for all but the "updateCell" method - this "updateCell" behavior was added in v2.19.0.

Note when triggering one of the above methods, and passing a defined resort parameter, it will override this setting.

Note if a sort is not reapplied, problems with some widgets may occur namely the grouping widget.

You can change this, but the table will still need the required thead and tbody before this plugin will work properly.
Added > to the selector in v2.3 to prevent targeting nested table headers. It was modified again in v2.4 to include td cells within the thead.

It was necessary to add this option because some widgets add table rows for styling (see the writing custom widgets demo) and if a table update is triggered ($('table').trigger('update');) those added rows will automatically become incorporated into the table.

For example, can be used to sort people alphabetically after some other user-selected sort that results in rows with the same value like dates or money due. It can help prevent data from appearing as though it has a random secondary sort.

The value contains an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]]. Please see sortForce for more details on other sort order options.

For example, sortForce: [[0,0]] will sort the first column in ascending order. After the forced sort, the user selected column(s), or during initialzation, the sorting order defined in the sortList will follow. And lastly, the sort defined in the sortAppend option will be applied. More explicitly:

There are three options to determine the sort order and this is the order of priority:

1. sortForce forces the user to have this/these column(s) sorted first (null by default).
2. SortList is the initial sort order of the columns.
3. SortAppend is the default sort that is added to the end of the users sort selection (null by default).

The value of these sort options is an array of arrays and can include one or more columns. The format is an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]].

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    sortForce  : [[0,0]],        // Always sort first column first
    sortList   : [[1,0], [2,0]], // initial sort columns (2nd and 3rd)
    sortAppend : [[3,0]]         // Always add this sort on the end (4th column)
  });
});

This order can also be set by desired column using the headers option (v2.0.8).

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority (modified v2.3.1):

• jQuery data data-sortInitialOrder="asc".
• metadata class="{ sortInitialOrder: 'asc'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { sortInitialOrder : 'asc' } }.
• header class name class="sortInitialOrder-asc".
• Overall sortInitialOrder option.

The value contains an array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]]. Please see sortForce for more details on other sort order options.

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    sortList : [[1,0], [2,0]] // initial sort columns (2nd and 3rd)
  });
});

This option can also be set using data-attributes (v2.3.1), jQuery data or metadata on the table:

** Note: data-sortlist data is not supported in jQuery versions older than 1.4.
jQuery data	<table data-sortlist="[[0,0],[4,0]]"> **
Meta data	<table class="tablesorter {sortlist: [[0,0],[4,0]]}">

• This option no longer switches the sort to use the String.localeCompare method.
• When this option is true, the text parsed from table cells will convert accented characters to their equivalent to allow the alphanumeric sort to properly sort.
• If false (default), any accented characters are treated as their value in the standard unicode order.
• The following characters are replaced for both upper and lower case (information obtained from sugar.js sorting equivalents table):
  • áàâãä replaced with a
  • ç replaced with c
  • éèêë replaced with e
  • íìİîï replaced with i
  • óòôõöō replaced with o
  • úùûü replaced with u
  • ß replaced with S
• Please see the example page for instrcutions on how to modify the above equivalency table.
• If you would like to continue using the String.localeCompare method, then set the sortLocaleCompare option to false and use the new textSorter option as follows:

  $('table').tablesorter({
    textSorter: function(a,b) {
      return a.localeCompare(b);
    }
  });

NOTE! See the Language wiki page for language specific examples and how to extend the character equivalent tables seen in the sortLocaleCompare demo.

Boolean flag indicating whenever to use javascript String.localeCompare method or not.
This is only used when comparing text with international character strings. A sort using localeCompare will sort accented characters the same as their unaccented counterparts.

Don't confuse this option with the sortReset method. This option only resets the column sort after a third click, while the method immediately resets the entire table sort.

This isn't exactly a stable sort because the sort order maintains the original unsorted order when sorting the column in an ascending direction. When sorting the column in a descending order, the opposite of the original unsorted order is returned. If that doesn't make any sense, please refer to issue #419.

String options was initially set in the header options only. Overall option added and values changed in version 2.1.16; setting the value to:

• "max" will treat any text in that column as a value greater than the max (more positive) value. Renamed from "max+".
• "min" will treat any text in that column as a value greater than the min (more negative) value. Renamed from "max-".
• "top" will always sort the text to the top of the column.
• "bottom" will always sort the text to the bottom of the column.
• "none" or "zero" will treat the text as if it has a value of zero.

Individual columns can be modified by adding the following (they all do the same thing), set in order of priority:

• jQuery data data-string="top".
• metadata class="{ string: 'top'}". This requires the metadata plugin.
• headers option headers : { 0 : { string : 'top' } }.
• header class name class="string-top".
• Overall stringTo option.

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter" class will always be added to the table; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

This class was required in the default markup in version 2.0.5. But in version 2.0.6, it was added as an option.

Modify this option if you are not using the default css, or if you are using a completely custom stylesheet.

This option contains the name of the data-attribute used by the textExtraction function. Add it to the cell(s) as follows:

<td data-text="1">First repository</td>

Note This option only works when the textExtraction option is set to "basic".

* Note This option accepts multiple types (String, Object or Function); see below for further details.

In v2.19.0, the code was further optimized. When set to "basic" (the default), the textExtraction code will check for data-attributes, otherwise, any other string value setting will skip the data-attribute value check; because of this change, there is a noticable lessening of initialization time in Internet Explorer.

In v2.17.0, the textExtraction column can also be referenced by using a jQuery selector (e.g. class name, id or column index) that points to a table header cell.

textExtraction : {
    // 'jQuery thead cell selector' : function ( new method )
    '.styled' : function(node, table, cellIndex) {
        return $(node).find('strong').text();
    },
    // columnIndex : function ( original method )
    2 : function(node, table, cellIndex) {
        return $(node).find('img').attr('title');
    }
}

Warning What won't work is if you try to target the header using a filtering selector that uses an index, e.g. "th:eq()", ":gt()", ":lt()", ":first", ":last", ":even" or ":odd", ":first-child", ":last-child", ":nth-child()", ":nth-last-child()", etc.

As of version 2.16.0,

• The default text extraction method has been renamed and updated to get data from a data-attribute (set by the textAttribute option).
• If you need to support older versions of IE, this may add a significant delay to the table initialization especially for large tables; in this case, set the textExtraction option to any name other than "basic".
• Also, this option can now be set using a data-attribute named "data-text-extraction" on the table.

You can customize the text extraction by writing your own text extraction function "myTextExtraction" which you define like:

var myTextExtraction = function(node, table, cellIndex){
  // extract data from markup and return it
  // originally: return node.childNodes[0].childNodes[0].innerHTML;
  return $(node).find('selector').text();
}
$(function(){
  $("#myTable").tablesorter( { textExtraction: myTextExtraction } );
});

tablesorter will pass the current table cell object for you to parse and return. Thanks to Josh Nathanson for the examples; updated to a jQuery example by Rob G (Mottie).

Now if the text you are finding in the script above is say a number, then just include the headers sorter option to specify how to sort it. Also in this example, we will specify that the special textExtraction code is only needed for the second column (1 because we are using a zero-based index). All other columns will ignore this textExtraction function.

Added table and cellIndex variables to the textExtraction function in version 2.1.2 (this is not part of the original plugin).

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textExtraction: {
      1: function(node, table, cellIndex) {
           return $(node).find("span:last").text();
      }
    },
    headers: {
      1: { sorter : "digit" }
    }
  });
});

The built-in option is "basic" (modified v2.16.0) which is the equivalent of doing this inside of the textExtraction function: $(node).text();.

Include a script like naturalSort.js as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textSorter : naturalSort
  });
});

or use the localeCompare sort

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    // replace the OVERALL text sorter function
    textSorter: function(a, b, direction, columnIndex, table){
      // direction: true = ascending; false = descending
      // columnIndex: zero-based index of the current table column being sorted
      // table: table DOM element (access options by using table.config)
      return a.localeCompare(b);
    }
  });
});

In v2.12, the textSorter option will now accept a text sorter per column:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    textSorter : {
      // replace INDIVIDUAL COLUMN text sorter functions
      0 : function(a, b, direction, columnIndex, table){
        // same as $.tablesorter.sortText (basic alphabetical sort)
        // direction: true = ascending; false = descending
        // columnIndex: zero-based index of the current table column being sorted
        // table: table DOM element (access options by using table.config)
        return a > b ? 1 : (a < b ? -1 : 0);
      },
      1 : $.tablesorter.sortText,    // same as the function in column 0 above (modified in v2.12)
      2 : $.tablesorter.sortNatural, // renamed v2.12 from $.tablesorter.sortText - performs natural sort
      3 : Array.AlphanumericSort     // alphanumeric sort from sugar (http://sugarjs.com/arrays#sorting)
    }
  });
});

The direction parameter (boolean) is merely for informational purposes as the plugin automatically switches a and b depending on the sort direction ( i.e. there's no need to worry about reverse sorting, it's taken care of by the plugin ).

When changing this theme option, make sure that the appropriate css theme file has also been loaded. Included theme files include: see all themes

---

uitheme widget

You will need to use the uitheme widget to extend the theme to apply css from jQuery UI, Bootstrap or other css libraries.

Modify a theme

If you want to modify the existing themes ("jui" and "bootstrap"), it can be done as follows:

Modify the class names by extending from the $.tablesorter.themes variable

Note there is no need to extend from the entire list of class names, just include the key:value pairs that are being changed:

// Extend a theme to modify any of the default class names
$.extend($.tablesorter.themes.jui, {
  // change default jQuery uitheme icons - find the full list of icons
  // here: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/ (hover over them for their name)
  table      : 'ui-widget ui-widget-content ui-corner-all', // table classes
  header     : 'ui-widget-header ui-corner-all ui-state-default', // header classes
  footerRow  : '',
  footerCells: '',
  icons      : 'ui-icon', // icon class added to the <i> in the header
  sortNone   : 'ui-icon-carat-2-n-s',
  sortAsc    : 'ui-icon-carat-1-n',
  sortDesc   : 'ui-icon-carat-1-s',
  active     : 'ui-state-active', // applied when column is sorted
  hover      : 'ui-state-hover',  // hover class
  filterRow  : '',
  even       : 'ui-widget-content', // even row zebra striping
  odd        : 'ui-state-default'   // odd row zebra striping
});

Custom theme

To add a new uitheme, define it as follows (replace "custom" with the name of your theme):

$.tablesorter.themes.custom = {
  table      : 'table',       // table classes
  header     : 'header',      // header classes
  footerRow  : '',
  footerCells: '',
  icons      : 'icon',        // icon class added to the <i> in the header
  sortNone   : 'sort-none',   // unsorted header
  sortAsc    : 'sort-asc',    // ascending sorted header
  sortDesc   : 'sort-desc',   // descending sorted header
  active     : 'sort-active', // applied when column is sorted
  hover      : 'hover',       // hover class
  filterRow  : 'filters',     // class added to the filter row
  even       : 'even',        // even row zebra striping
  odd        : 'odd'          // odd row zebra striping
}

Then use it by adding the name of your theme to the theme option:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    // set the new theme name from $.tablesorter.themes here
    theme   : 'custom',
    // add {icon} to template (if needed)
    headerTemplate: '{content}{icon}',
    // make sure to initialize uitheme widget
    widgets : ["uitheme"]
  });
});

true	U.S.	1,234,567.89
false	German: French:	1.234.567,89 1 234 567,89

By default, this option is set to 'widget-{name}'. So if the table has a class name of widget-zebra the zebra widget will be automatically added to the config.widgets option and applied to the table.

Some widget ID's with special characters may not be detected; ID's with letters, numbers, underscores and/or dashes will be correctly detected.

The template string *must* contain the {name} tag.

Previously documented widget options widgetZebra, widgetColumns and widgetUitheme will be retained for backwards compatibility.

Use the widgetOptions option as follows, please note that each option is followed by a comma (except the last one):

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({

    // initialize a bunch of widgets (the order doesn't matter)
    widgets: ["zebra", "uitheme", "columns", "filter", "resizable", "stickyHeaders"],

    widgetOptions: {

      // *** columns widget ***
      // change the default column class names
      columns : [ "primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ],
      // include thead when adding class names
      columns_thead : true,
      // include tfoot when adding class names
      columns_tfoot : true,

      // *** filter widget ***
      // jQuery selector string (or jQuery object) of external anyMatch filter
      // filter_anyMatch   : null, // THIS OPTION WAS REMOVED IN V2.15
      // Include child rows content in the search
      filter_childRows     : false,
      // filter child row content by column, if true; filter_childRows must also be true!
      filter_childByColumn : false,
      // show column filters
      filter_columnFilters : true,
      // extra css class name (string or array) added to the filter element (input or select)
      filter_cellFilter    : '',
      // css class applied to the filter row inputs/select
      filter_cssFilter     : '',
      // data attribute in the header cell that contains the default filter value
      filter_defaultAttrib : 'data-value',
      // add a default column filter type "~{query}" to make fuzzy searches default; "{q1} AND {q2}" to make all searches use a logical AND.
      filter_defaultFilter : {},
      // filters to exclude, per column
      filter_excludeFilter : {},
      // jQuery selector string (or jQuery object) of external search inputs
      filter_external      : '',
      // class added to filtered rows; needed by pager plugin
      filter_filteredRow   : 'filtered',
      // add custom filter elements to the filter row
      filter_formatter     : null,
      // add custom filter functions using this option.
      filter_functions     : null,
      // hide filter row when table is empty
      filter_hideEmpty     : true,
      // if true, the filter row is hidden initially until hovered/focused.
      filter_hideFilters   : false,
      // if true, make all searches case-insensitive.
      filter_ignoreCase    : true,
      // if true, search column content while the user types (with a delay)
      filter_liveSearch    : true,
      // a selector in a header with this class name will only show selected options in the drop down
      filter_onlyAvail     : 'filter-onlyAvail',
      // default placeholder text (overridden by any header "data-placeholder" setting)
      filter_placeholder   : { search : '', select : '' },
      // jQuery selector string of an element used to reset the filters.
      filter_reset         : null,
      // Use the $.tablesorter.storage utility to save the most recent filters
      filter_saveFilters   : false,
      // typing delay in milliseconds before starting a search.
      filter_searchDelay   : 300,
      // allow searching through already filtered rows in special circumstances; will speed up searching in large tables if true
      filter_searchFiltered: true,
      // include a function to return an array of values to be added to the column filter select
      filter_selectSource  : null,
      // filter_selectSource array text left of the separator is added to the option value, right into the option text
      filter_selectSourceSeparator : '|',
      // if true, filter start from the beginning of the cell contents.
      filter_startsWith    : false,
      // filter all data using parsed content.
      filter_useParsedData : false,
      // Set to true for server-side filtering
      filter_serversideFiltering :  false,

      // *** resizable widget ***
      // if false, resized columns are not saved for next page reload
      resizable : true,
      // if true, the last column will be resizable (use in non-full width tables)
      resizable_addLastColumn: false,
      // Add the starting & reset header widths
      resizable_widths : [],
      // throttle resizable event (needed for slow browsers)
      resizable_throttle : false,
      // target the last column for resize (like holding shift-drag)
      resizable_targetLast: false,

      // *** savesort widget ***
      // if false, the sort will not be saved for next page reload
      saveSort : true,

      // *** stickyHeaders widget ***
      // extra class name added to the sticky header row
      stickyHeaders : '',
      // jQuery selector or object to attach sticky header to
      stickyHeaders_attachTo : null,
      // jQuery selector or object to monitor horizontal scroll position (defaults: xScroll > attachTo > window)
      stickyHeaders_xScroll : null,
      // jQuery selector or object to monitor vertical scroll position (defaults: yScroll > attachTo > window)
      stickyHeaders_yScroll : null,
      // number or jquery selector targeting the position:fixed element
      stickyHeaders_offset : 0,
      // scroll table top into view after filtering
      stickyHeaders_filteredToTop: true,
      // added to table ID, if it exists
      stickyHeaders_cloneId : '-sticky',
      // trigger "resize" event on headers
      stickyHeaders_addResizeEvent : true,
      // if false and a caption exist, it won't be included in the sticky header
      stickyHeaders_includeCaption : true,
      // The zIndex of the stickyHeaders, allows the user to adjust this to their needs
      stickyHeaders_zIndex : 2,

      // *** storage widget ***
      // allows switching between using local & session storage
      storage_useSessionStorage : false,
      // alternate table id (set if grouping multiple tables together)
      storage_tableId  : '',
      // table attribute to get the table ID, if storage_tableId is undefined
      storage_group    : '', // defaults to "data-table-group"
      // alternate url to use (set if grouping tables across multiple pages)
      storage_fixedUrl : '',
      // table attribute to get the fixedUrl, if storage_fixedUrl is undefined
      storage_page     : '',

      // *** zebra widget ***
      // class names to add to alternating rows
      zebra : ["even", "odd"]

      // *** uitheme widget ***
      // use "config.theme" to set the theme to use

    }

  });
});

Prior to v2.4, this option set pixel widths to added colgroups to fix the column widths. This is useful for the Pager companion.
Requires the jQuery dimension plugin to work. This is now part of the jQuery core.

This option was not working as intended, so it was completely removed - sorry for the lack of notice.

Previous default was "tablesorter-allowClicks"

Class name added to table header which allows clicks to bubble up. (added v2.18.1; removed in v2.20.0).

This option was added to set a specific page when storing data using the $.tablesorter.storage code (v2.12).
More specifically, when the storage function is used, it attempts to give every table a unique identifier using both the page url and table ID (or index on the page if no id exists). This option allows you to override the current page url (it doesn't need to be a url, just some constant value) and save data for multiple tables across a domain.

The table url & id can also be overridden by setting table data attributes data-table-page (url) and data-table-group (id)
(e.g. <table class="tablesorter" data-table-page="mydomain" data-table-group="financial">...</table>)

For a bit more detail, specifically on how to use the new storage function options for a custom widget, please refer to issue #389.

Default value: { css: [ "primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ] } (Object with Array)

When the column styling widget is initialized, it automatically applied the default class names of "primary" for the primary sort, "secondary" for the next sort, "tertiary" for the next sort, and so on (add more as needed)... (v2.0.17). Use the widgetColumns option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetColumns: { css: ["primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ] }
  });
});

Default value: { css: [ "ui-icon-arrowthick-2-n-s", "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-s", "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-n" ] } (Object with Array)

Used when the ui theme styling widget is initialized. It automatically applies the default class names of "ui-icon-arrowthick-2-n-s" for the unsorted column, "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-s" for the descending sort and "ui-icon-arrowthick-1-n" for the ascending sort. (v2.0.9). Find more jQuery UI class names by hovering over the Framework icons on this page: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/

Use the widgetUitheme option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["uitheme"], // initialize ui theme styling widget of the table
    widgetUitheme: {
      css: [
        "ui-icon-carat-2-n-s", // Unsorted icon
        "ui-icon-carat-1-s",   // Sort up (down arrow)
        "ui-icon-carat-1-n"    // Sort down (up arrow)
      ]
    }
  });
});

Default value: { css: [ "even", "odd" ] } (Object with Array)

When the zebra striping widget is initialized, it automatically applied the default class names of "even" and "odd". Use the widgetZebra option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["zebra"], // initialize zebra striping of the table
    widgetZebra: { css: [ "normal-row", "alt-row" ] }
  });
});

Use the "columns" option to change the css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns: [ "primary", "secondary", "tertiary" ]
    }
  });
});

Use the "columns_tfoot" option to add the column class names to the tfoot as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns_tfoot: true
    }
  });
});

Use the "columns_thead" option to add the column class names to the thead as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["columns"], // initialize column styling of the table
    widgetOptions : {
      columns_thead: true
    }
  });
});

When the filter row is built, each table cell (<td>) will get the class name from this option.

• If this option is a plain string, all filter row cells will get the text applied as a class name.
• If this option is an array, then each filter row cell will get the text from the associate array element applied as a class name.

Use the filter_cellFilter option to add an extra css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // css class applied to the table row containing the filters & the inputs within that row
      // or [ "filter-cell0", "filter-cell1", "filter-cell2", etc... ]
      filter_cellFilter : "tablesorter-filter-cell"
    }
  });
});

Note The cells from this option are also contained within the config.$filters variable.

The filter_childRows option must also be true for this option to work.

If false, and the filter_childRows option is true, then queries in any column will search all child content, as before this option was added.

Use the filter_childByColumn option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_childRows : true,
      filter_childByColumn : true
    }
  });
});

*NOTE* When using this option, please be aware that all child row content will be obtained from each table cell using textContent, so none of the markup will be preserved. Also, carriage returns (<br>) will not be included. To account for the loss of white space, especially after carriage returns, please add an extra space to the end of the line. Using innerText, could have been an option for preserving the white space, but it is not standardized across all browsers (ref).

Use the filter_childRows option to include child row text as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_childRows : true
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_columnFilters option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_columnFilters : true
    }
  });
});

As of v2.15, this option can also contain an array of class names that are to be applied to input filters.

Changed to empty string in v2.11, as the "tablesorter-filter" class will always be added to the filter; this option now contains any additional class names to add.

Use the filter_cssFilter option to add an extra css class name as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      // css class applied to the table row containing the filters & the inputs within that row
      // or [ "filter0", "filter1", "filter2", etc... ]
      filter_cssFilter : "tablesorter-filter"
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_defaultAttrib option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_defaultAttrib : 'data-value'
    }
  });
});

Then add the default filter value to the table header as follows:

<th data-value="<30">Age</th>

Warning If a column has a default filter set, the user will not be able to use other filters.

Use the filter_defaultFilter option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {

      filter_defaultFilter : {
        // target a column by class name or column index (zero-based)

        '.fuzzy' : '~{q}',
        2 : '{q}=',

        // for default "anyMatches" use the column length as the index
        // e.g. if your table has 5 columns (0,1,2,3,4), then set the anyMatch column as 5.
        5 : '{q} or {q}' // any match column
      }

    }
  });
});

Set up the column string as follows:

• Add the desired filter type symbol along with {query} or {q} to maintain positioning
• Symbols can be added to the beginning "~{query}" (default fuzzy search) or end "{q}=" (default exact search)
• For symbols that separate queries, like "AND", "OR" or "-" (range):
  • Add one additional {q} tag.
  • For example, to add a default "OR" search, use "{q} OR {q}".
  • If the user enters "a b c d" the column will be filtered using "a OR b OR c OR d", so there is no need to add more {q} tags within the string; adding more will likely mess up the results.
  • If the user only enters "a", then the column will be filtered using "a OR a" so as not to cause other issues.
• Note It is not possible to set up a default filter search within a query. So the "wild" filter search will not work as intended (e.g. {q}* and {q}? are essentially the same as {q}.

Use the filter_excludeFilter option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {

      filter_excludeFilter : {
        // target a column by class name or column index (zero-based)
        '.title' : 'range',

        // separate multiple filter types using spaces
        2 : 'range notMatch exact'
      }

    }
  });
});

Exclusion names must be separated by a comma. Here is a full list of filter type names:

• and - logical " AND " or && type filter.
• exact - exact match (using " or =).
• fuzzy - fuzzy match (~)
• notMatch - not match (! or !=)
• operators - comparison filters (< <= >= >)
• range - range ( - or to )
• regex - regex (/\d/)
• wild - wild card matching (? for single characters, * for multiple characters not including spaces, or | or OR for a logical OR.

Set this option to be a jQuery selector string, or jQuery object, pointing to any external inputs that are to be used for searching the table.

Use the filter_external option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_external : '.search'
    }
  });
});

These external inputs have one requirement, they must have a data-column="#", where the # targets the column (zero-based index), pointing to a specific column to search.

<input class="search" type="search" data-column="0" placeholder="Search first column">

If you want to search all columns, using the updated "any match" method, set the data column value to "all":

<input class="search" type="search" data-column="all" placeholder="Search entire table">

The updated any matching code will now automatically update all associated inputs with the latest search.
This option replaces filter_anyMatch.

In v2.17.0, the filter_formatter column can also be referenced by using a jQuery selector (e.g. class name or ID) that points to a table header cell.

filter_formatter : {
    ".col-value" : function($cell, indx){
      return $.tablesorter.filterFormatter.uiSpinner( $cell, indx, {
        ...
      });
    }
}

Warning What won't work is if you try to target the header using a filtering selector that uses an index, e.g. "th:eq()", ":gt()", ":lt()", ":first", ":last", ":even" or ":odd", ":first-child", ":last-child", ":nth-child()", ":nth-last-child()", etc.

A new file has been included named "widget-filter-formatter-jui.js" & "widget-filter-formatter-html5.js". The files include code to add jQuery UI and HTML5 controls via the filter_formatter option.

Most of the formatter functions have an option named valueToHeader which, when true adds a span to the header cell above the filter row and updates it with the current control's value (see example 2). If the option exists and is set to false, then the current value is added to the control's handle and css can be used to create a popup to show the current value (see example 1).

Another custom option named addToggle is included with the "uiSpinner", "html5Color" and "html5Number" code. This allows the user to disable the control to show all table rows. For the single sliders, "uiSlider" and "html5Range", the minimum value is used to clear the filter (show all rows).

The options included for each jQuery UI control only show basic options, but any or all of the jQuery UI options for that control can be included.

• To add the jQuery UI slider, follow this example:

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions : {
        filter_formatter : {
          // column index `0` or use a jQuery selector `"th:contains('Discount')"`
          0 : function($cell, indx){
            return $.tablesorter.filterFormatter.uiSpinner( $cell, indx, {
              value : 0,  // starting value
              min   : 0,  // minimum value
              max   : 50, // maximum value
              step  : 1,  // increment value by
              addToggle: true, // Add a toggle to enable/disable the control
              valueToHeader: false // add current slider value to the header cell
            });
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Any of the other jQuery UI spinner widget options can also be included.
  
  
• Filter formatter functions include: "uiSpinner", "uiSlider", "uiRange" (uiSlider ranged), "uiDatepicker" (range only), "html5Number", "html5Range" and "html5Color".
• For other examples, please refer to the example pages. Formatter part 1 (example 1) adds jQuery UI controls to the filter row, while formatter part 2 (example 2) adds HTML5 controls, if supported, to the filter row.

In Updated v2.22.0, a data parameter was added to that long list of parameters.

*WARNING* In a future update, the filter function parameters will be cleaned up and changed as follows!

filter_functions : {
  // function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) {} <- current parameters
  0 : function(c, data) {} // planned change (version undetermined)
}

The e (exact table cell text), n (normalized table cell text), f (filter input value), i (column index) and $r (current row; jQuery object) are all already included in the data object.

In v2.17.0, the filter_functions column can also be referenced by using a jQuery selector (e.g. class name or ID) that points to a table header cell.

filter_functions : {
    ".col-date" : {
        "< 2004" : function (e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) {
            return n < Date.UTC(2004, 0, 1); // < Jan 1 2004
        },
        ...
    }
}

Warning What won't work is if you try to target the header using a filtering selector that uses an index, e.g. "th:eq()", ":gt()", ":lt()", ":first", ":last", ":even" or ":odd", ":first-child", ":last-child", ":nth-child()", ":nth-last-child()", etc.

Use the "filter_functions" option in three different ways:

• Make a sorted select dropdown list of all column contents. Repeated content will be combined.

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        filter_functions: {
          // Add select menu to this column
          // set the column value to true, and/or add "filter-select" class name to header
          0 : true
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Alternately, instead of setting the column filter funtion to true, give the column header a class name of "filter-select". See the demo.
  
  
• Make a select dropdown list with custom option settings. Each option must have a corresponding function which returns a boolean value; return true if there is a match, or false with no match.

  Regex example

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        // $r = jQuery element of current row
        // c = table.config
        // data = combined filter data - see filter widget "custom searches" demo, look under "How to add Custom filter types"
        filter_functions: {
          // Add these options to the select dropdown (regex example)
          2 : {
            "A - D" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[A-D]/.test(e); },
            "E - H" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[E-H]/.test(e); },
            "I - L" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[I-L]/.test(e); },
            "M - P" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[M-P]/.test(e); },
            "Q - T" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[Q-T]/.test(e); },
            "U - X" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[U-X]/.test(e); },
            "Y - Z" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return /^[Y-Z]/.test(e); }
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Comparison example

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        // $r = jQuery element of current row
        // c = table.config
        // data = combined filter data - see filter widget "custom searches" demo, look under "How to add Custom filter types"
        filter_functions: {
          // Add these options to the select dropdown (numerical comparison example)
          // Note that only the normalized (n) value will contain numerical data
          // If you use the exact text, you'll need to parse it (parseFloat or parseInt)
          4 : {
            "< $10"      : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n < 10; },
            "$10 - $100" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n >= 10 && n <=100; },
            "> $100"     : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n > 100; }
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Note: if the filter_ignoreCase option is true, it DOES alter the normalized value (n) by making it all lower case.
  
  
• Make a custom filter for the column.

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions: {
        // function variables:
        // e = exact text from cell
        // n = normalized value returned by the column parser
        // f = search filter input value
        // i = column index
        // $r = jQuery element of current row
        // c = table.config
        // data = combined filter data - see filter widget "custom searches" demo, look under "How to add Custom filter types"
        filter_functions: {
          // Exact match only
          1 : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) {
            return e === f;
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

  Note: if the filter_ignoreCase option is true, it DOES alter the normalized value (n) by making it all lower case.
  
  

Use the filter_hideEmpty option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_hideEmpty : false
    }
  });
});

Use the filter_hideFilters option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_hideFilters : true
    }
  });
});

You can change the style (thickness) of the hidden filter row in the tablesorter theme css. Look for .tablesorter-filter-row (revealed row) and .tablesorter-filter-row.hideme (for the hidden row) css definitions.

Use the filter_ignoreCase option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_ignoreCase : false
    }
  });
});

This option, when false allows you to disable the live search behavior, so that a filter is only applied when the user presses Enter (or uses Esc to clear and cancel the search).

If this option is set to a number, e.g. 4, a search of the column content will not initiate until this minimum number of characters are entered into the input.

In v2.17.6, columns with the only available class name set, that are not currently being filtered will only show the available options. Conversely, the column(s) with a selected option will show all options.

This option is useful after one or more columns have been filtered, then the column select filter with this class applied will only show the contents of the column within the dropdown that are currently visible. See the custom filter widget demo "Discount" column for an example (sort the "First Name" column first).

Caution: The main issue with this functionality is with keyboard accessibility. If the keyboard is used to select an option, only the first and default options will be available for chosing. The only way to select other options is with the mouse.

Any search type input added to the filter row will automatically get a placeholder attribute added, the source of this placeholder text is from the following sources, in order of priority:

• Header cell data (table.config.$headers.eq(0).data('placeholder', 'search for...');
• Header cell data-attribute (<th data-placeholder="Find Rank...">Rank</th>)
• Global filter_placeholder.search setting.

The filter_placeholder.select setting adds the text to the first select option (default option to show all rows).

Note: The widget-filter-formatter-jui.js jQuery UI Datepicker Range Selector creates two inputs, so this option then includes two additional settings:

filter_placeholder : {
  search : '',
  select : '',
  from   : '', // datepicker range "from" placeholder
  to     : ''  // datepicker range "to" placeholder
}

Note: The browser must support the placeholder attribute before it will be visible.

When this option points to a reset element using a jQuery selector string, it is bound using event delegation. So if any additional reset elements, with the same class name, are added to the page dynamically, they will be associated with the same table.

For example, add this button (<button class="reset">Reset</button>) to the table header, or anywhere else on the page. That element will be used as a reset for all column and quick search filters (clears all fields):

Use the filter_reset option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_reset : '.reset'
    }
  });
});

If this option contains a jQuery object (v2.16), clicking on any of the elements within that jQuery object will trigger a filter reset. If any additional elements with the same selector are added to the page, they will not be dynamically functional.

If either of these methods do not work as desired, simply trigger a filterReset event on the table.

Filters saved to local storage (or cookies) will override any default filters within the header data-attribute (set by the filter_defaultAttrib option) and be available to the pager before any ajax calls are made.

To bypass this behavior, clear out the saved filters as follows:

$.tablesorter.storage( $('table'), 'tablesorter-filters', '' );

Use the filter_searchDelay option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_searchDelay : 500
    }
  });
});

If you want to want to initialize the filter without user input, target any one of the filters and trigger a "search".

// target the first filter input
// this method will begin the search after the searchDelay time
$('input.tablesorter-filter:eq(0)').trigger('search');

// this method will begin the search immediately
$('input.tablesorter-filter:eq(0)').trigger('search', false);

In tablesorter v2.4+, the trigger can be applied directly to the table:

// refresh the widget filter; no delay
$('table').trigger('search', false);

To better explain this, lets do it by example. Lets say you have a column of color names and you enter "light" and results like "light blue" and "light grey" show up.

When you press the space bar, a space is added, and instead of searching though all of the colors again, the filter widget only searches through the already filtered results that started with "light". This can substantially speed up searching, especially in large tables.

But, there are some special circumstances which would make this method return incorrect results. So, this option was added to allow you to disable this feature in case one of these following conditions doesn't cover your need; but still, please report any issues!

The search through filtered results only occurs if the following conditions are met:

• The last search (for all columns) was not completely empty - all rows will be searched anyway.
• If there were no changes to the search from the beginning of the search string (changing the above search to "bright" will force a new search of all rows).
• If the search does not contain a logical or ( or or |), or a range delimiter ( - or to ) within the search query.
• If the search is not looking for an exact match (" or =) or a logical not search (!).
• Or, if the search is using a select dropdown without a "filter-match" class name (looking for an exact match).
• If the search does not contain an operator greater than or equal to a negative number (>=-10) or less than or equal to a positive number (<=10).
• And lastly, only search filtered rows if all rows are not hidden.

If the debug option is set to true, then a message will appear while filtering stating the specific number of rows, or "all" rows, that are being searched.

Use the filter_searchFiltered option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_searchFiltered : false
    }
  });
});

In v2.21.5, this option will now override the filter_function options (so you need to add them back!), allowing the addition of custom select options and still maintain basic filtering action - see this demo (ref).

In v2.17.0, the filter_selectSource column can also be referenced by using a jQuery selector (e.g. class name or ID) that points to a table header cell.

filter_selectSource : {
  ".model-number" : [ "abc", "def", "ghi", "xyz" ]
}

Warning What won't work is if you try to target the header using a filtering selector that uses an index, e.g. "th:eq()", ":gt()", ":lt()", ":first", ":last", ":even" or ":odd", ":first-child", ":last-child", ":nth-child()", ":nth-last-child()", etc.

A column will have a filter select dropdown when a "filter-select" class name is added to the header cell, or if the filter_functions column value is set to true

This option allows using an alternate source, or customizing options of the filter select dropdown. This option can be set as follows:

• null - this value will set the default behavior and return all table cell values from the current column.
• An overall function - when this option is a function, it will be used for all filter selects in the table.

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions : {
        filter_selectSource : function(table, column, onlyAvail){
          // get an array of all table cell contents for a table column
          var array = $.tablesorter.filter.getOptions(table, column, onlyAvail);
          // manipulate the array as desired, then return it
          return array;
        }
      }
    });
  });

• An object containing column keys set with a function - when the option is set in this manner, a function can be applied to a specific column

  $(function(){
    $("table").tablesorter({
      widgets: ["filter"],
      widgetOptions : {
        filter_selectSource : {
          0 : function(table, column, onlyAvail){
            return $.getJSON('ajax/options.json', function(data) {
              // return false if there is a problem and the select
              // will display the original defaults
              return data.hasOwnProperty('options') ? data.options : false;
          }
        }
      }
    });
  });

The function uses the following parameters:

• table - table DOM element
• column - zero-based index of the column with a filter select
• onlyAvail - boolean indicating if the returned options should only be from available (non-filtered) rows.

Important Return an array of values which will be added to the filter select dropdown. This array will automatically be stripped of any duplicate values and sorted alphanumerically before being added to the select. If for some reason the custom filter_selectSource function does not obtain the desired array of values, return false and the original method of obtaining column cell content will be used.

Use the filter_selectSourceSeparator option as follows:

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions : {
      filter_selectSource : {
        0 : [ 'en|English', 'fr|French', 'de|German' ]
      },
      // filter_selectSource array text left of the separator is added to the option value, right into the option text
      filter_selectSourceSeparator : '|'
    }
  });
});

Results in this HTML:

<select>
  <option value=""></option>
  <option value="en">English</option>
  <option value="fr">French</option>
  <option value="de">German</option>
</select>

This also works for the filter_functions

$(function(){
  $("table").tablesorter({
    widgets: ["filter"],
    widgetOptions: {
      filter_functions: {
        // Add these options to the select dropdown (regex example)
        1 : {
          "<10|Less than 10" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n < 10; },
          "10 - 100|Between 10 & 100" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n >= 10 && n <=100; },
          ">100|Greater than 100" : function(e, n, f, i, $r, c, data) { return n > 100; }
        }
      },
      // filter_selectSource array text left of the separator is added to the option value, right into the option text
      filter_selectSourceSeparator : '|'
    }
  });
});

Results in this HTML (this adds a data-function-name attribute to keep a reference to the associated filter_functions.

<select>
  <option value=""></option>
  <option data-function-name="&lt;10|Less than 10" value="&lt;10">Less than 10</option>
  <option data-function-name="10 - 100|Between 10 &amp; 100" value="10 - 100">Between 10 & 100</option>
  <option data-function-name="&gt;100|Greater than 100" value="&gt;100">Greater than 100</option>
</select>