I have successfully found a solution to this issue on my own using Google :-) Here is the method I used for those who may need it in the future, known as "Natural Sorting"
To use, simply call
_.sortByNat(objs, function(obj) { return obj.name; })
/*
* Natural Sorting with Backbone.js & Underscore.js
*
* @author Kevin Jantzer <https://gist.github.com/kjantzer/7027717>
* @since 2013-10-17
*
* NOTE: Make sure to include the Natural Sort algorithm by Jim Palmer (https://github.com/overset/javascript-natural-sort)
*/
// Extends _.sortByNat() method
_.mixin({
sortByNat: function(obj, value, context) {
var iterator = _.isFunction(value) ? value : function(obj){ return obj[value]; };
return _.pluck(_.map(obj, function(value, index, list) {
return {
value: value,
index: index,
criteria: iterator.call(context, value, index, list)
};
}).sort(function(left, right) {
var a = left.criteria;
var b = right.criteria;
return naturalSort(a, b);
}), 'value');
}
});
/*
* Natural Sort algorithm for Javascript - Version 0.7 - Released under MIT license
* Author: Jim Palmer (based on chunking idea from Dave Koelle)
* https://github.com/overset/javascript-natural-sort
*/
function naturalSort (a, b) {
var re = /(^-?[0-9]+(\.?[0-9]*)[df]?e?[0-9]?$|^0x[0-9a-f]+$|[0-9]+)/gi,
sre = /(^[ ]*|[ ]*$)/g,
dre = /(^([\w ]+,?[\w ]+)?[\w ]+,?[\w ]+\d+:\d+(:\d+)?[\w ]?|^\d{1,4}[\/\-]\d{1,4}[\/\-]\d{1,4}|^\w+, \w+ \d+, \d{4})/,
hre = /^0x[0-9a-f]+$/i,
ore = /^0/,
i = function(s) { return naturalSort.insensitive && (''+s).toLowerCase() || ''+s },
// Convert all to strings and strip whitespace
x = i(a).replace(sre, '') || '',
y = i(b).replace(sre, '') || '',
// Chunk/tokenize
xN = x.replace(re, '\0$1\0').replace(/\0$/,'').replace(/^\0/,'').split('\0'),
yN = y.replace(re, '\0$1\0').replace(/\0$/,'').replace(/^\0/,'').split('\0'),
// Numeric, hex or date detection
xD = parseInt(x.match(hre)) || (xN.length != 1 && x.match(dre) && Date.parse(x)),
yD = parseInt(y.match(hre)) || xD && y.match(dre) && Date.parse(y) || null,
oFxNcL, oFyNcL;
// First try and sort Hex codes or Dates
if (yD)
if ( xD < yD ) return -1;
else if ( xD > yD ) return 1;
// Natural sorting through split numeric strings and default strings
for(var cLoc=0, numS=Math.max(xN.length, yN.length); cLoc < numS; cLoc++) {
// Find floats not starting with '0', string or 0 if not defined (Clint Priest)
oFxNcL = !(xN[cLoc] || '').match(ore) && parseFloat(xN[cLoc]) || xN[cLoc] || 0;
oFyNcL = !(yN[cLoc] || '').match(ore) && parseFloat(yN[cLoc]) || yN[cLoc] || 0;
// Handle numeric vs string comparison - number < string - (Kyle Adams)
if (isNaN(oFxNcL) !== isNaN(oFyNcL)) { return (isNaN(oFxNcL)) ? 1 : -1; }
// Rely on string comparison if different types - i.e. '02' < 2 != '02' < '2'
else if (typeof oFxNcL !== typeof oFyNcL) {
oFxNcL += '';
oFyNcL += '';
}
if (oFxNcL < oFyNcL) return -1;
if (oFxNcL > oFyNcL) return 1;
}
return 0;
}
// Extend Array to have a natural sort function
Array.prototype.sortNat = function(){
return Array.prototype.sort.call(this, naturalSort)
}