Sort Tool

The Sort tool arranges the records in a table in alphanumeric order based on the values of the specified data fields.

Configure the tool

Use Dictionary Order: Select to enable the associated drop down, then select a character or language set to sort by.

Sort Method

Depending on the language of your Designer instance, a different default sort order might be used. Consult the Localization User Settings to read more about the default Sort Method.

Sort priority

Letters are sorted alphabetically.

Using dictionary sort, each lowercase letter comes before the uppercase equivalent The letters are sorted in the order of the selected language's alphabet. Note that this is the default selection for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions of Designer.

Using the Unicode Code Point sort, the uppercase set comes before the lowercase set. All letters without accent marks come before all letters with accent marks.

Letter string sort example

English Dictionary	Swedish Dictionary	Unicode Code Point
a	a	A
A	A	Y
ă	y	Z
Ă	Y	a
y	Z	y
Y	a	Ă
Z	Ă	ă

Numeric strings are sorted before letter values.

Using the dictionary sort, numeric strings are sorted from the smallest to the largest number. Note that this is the default selection for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish version of Designer.

Using the non-dictionary sort, numeric strings are sorted left to right, character by character.

Numeric string sort example

Dictionary Order	Unicode Code Point
1	1
2	10
3	100
10	11
11	110
100	2
110	3

Using the dictionary sort, punctuation is grouped and sort before other values. Note that this is the default selection for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions of Designer.

Using the Unicode Code Point sort, punctuation is ordered by ASCII value and is not grouped.

Punctuation sort example

Dictionary Order	Dictionary
,	,
~	Z
a	a
Z	~

Select sort Fields with the drop downs.

Name: The column to sort on.
Order: The sequence the output follows. The default value is Ascending.

If the data is sorted on multiple columns, the Sort tool determines sorting order with the Fields list, starting with the uppermost entry. Manipulate the list sorting order with the Up, Down, and Delete buttons on the right.

Stable sort

The Sort tool uses a stable sorting algorithm to maintain the relative order of rows that have equal sort values.
Two records are input, Record1 before Record2. The records have the same value being sorted on. Record1 is before Record2 in the sorted output.