JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
JavaScript
function createItemsMap(itemsArray) { // {"a": ["Anne"], "b": ["Bob", "Henry"], …}
var itemsMap = {};
for (var i = 0, item; (item = itemsArray[i]); ++i) {
(itemsMap[item[1]] || (itemsMap[item[1]] = [])).push(item[0]);
}
return itemsMap;
}
function sortByKeys(itemsArray, sortingArr) {
var itemsMap = createItemsMap(itemsArray), result = [];
for (var i = 0; i < sortingArr.length; ++i) {
var key = sortingArr[i];
result.push([itemsMap[key].shift(), key]);
}
return result;
}
var itemsArray = [
['Anne', 'a'],
['Bob', 'b'],
['Henry', 'b'],
['Andrew', 'd'],
['Jason', 'c'],
['Thomas', 'b']
];
var sortingArr = ['b', 'c', 'b', 'b', 'a', 'd'];
alert(sortByKeys(itemsArray, sortingArr));