From fd37a268aaacecf22d3f3adc2cb1fe8e734a485c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Howard Yeend <h.yeend@growinginteractive.com>
Date: Mon, 30 May 2016 23:48:33 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] hoist exact matches to top of autocomplete suggestions

---
 src/jquery.autocomplete.js | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/jquery.autocomplete.js b/src/jquery.autocomplete.js
index bd933ce9..6820f988 100644
--- a/src/jquery.autocomplete.js
+++ b/src/jquery.autocomplete.js
@@ -530,9 +530,32 @@
                     return filter(suggestion, query, queryLowerCase);
                 })
             };
-
+            
+            function wholeWordMatch(suggestion) {
+                return (suggestion.split(/\b/).indexOf(queryLowerCase) >= 0);
+            }
+
+            function preferExactMatches(a, b) {
+                var sa = a.value.toLowerCase();
+                var aWhole = wholeWordMatch(sa);
+                var sb = b.value.toLowerCase();
+                var bWhole = wholeWordMatch(sb);
+                if (aWhole && bWhole) {
+                    if (sa === queryLowerCase && sb === queryLowerCase) {
+                        return 0;
+                    }
+                    return (sa === queryLowerCase) ? -1 : 1;
+                }
+                if (aWhole) {
+                    return -1;
+                }
+                if (bWhole) {
+                    return 1;
+                }
+                return 0;
+            }
             if (limit && data.suggestions.length > limit) {
-                data.suggestions = data.suggestions.slice(0, limit);
+                data.suggestions = data.suggestions.sort(preferExactMatches).slice(0, limit);
             }
 
             return data;