Sorts a list.

Note This @function is new with Release 6.

Syntax

@Sort( list ; [ order ]; customSortExpression )

Parameters

list

Text, number, or time-date list. The values to be sorted. Any alternate data types are returned unchanged.

Keyword. Optional. You can use the following keywords to specify the order of the sort:

[ACCENTSENSITIVE]

[ACCENTINSENSITIVE]

[ASCENDING]

[CASESENSITIVE]

[CASEINSENSITIVE]

[CUSTOMSORT]

[DESCENDING]

[PITCHSENSITIVE]

[PITCHINSENSITIVE]

Separate multiple order keywords with a colon(:). By default, the following keywords automatically format the sort order:

[ASCENDING]:[CASESENSITIVE]:[ACCENTSENSITIVE]:[PITCHSENSITIVE].

You can override a default sort order keyword by specifying its opposite keyword. For example, to override [ASCENDING], specify [DESCENDING] in the @Sort function. If conflicting keywords are passed, the last one in the list affects the sort order.

Formula. Required when the [CUSTOMSORT] keyword is specified. A formula that uses the temporary variables $A and $B to compare the values of elements in the list two at a time. Return @True or a number greater than 0 to specify that $A is greater than $B. Return @False or a number less than or equal to 0 to specify that $B is greater than $A.

An error is produced if the return value is a data type other than a number.

list

Text, number, or time-date list. The sorted values.

The ascending, case-, and accent-sensitive sort sequence for the English character set is as follows: the numbers 0-9, the alphabetic characters aA-zZ, the apostrophe, the dash, and the remaining special characters. Pitch-sensitivity affects double-byte languages.

Note The case sensitive sort only matters when terms are identical except for case. In that instance, the lower case is sorted first. For example, cat, Cat, CAT. If terms are not identical except for case, they are sorted without regard to case.

If you set Unicode standard sorting as the sorting option, you cannot select the following keywords or combinations:

• [PITCHINSENSITIVE]
• [CASESENSITIVE]:[ACCENTINSENSITIVE]

• Sorting dialog box that displays when you choose File - Preferences - User Preferences - International - Sorting from the main menu
• Database Properties box*
• Design Document Properties box*

For more information on Unicode sorting, see http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/

A date-time value with a wildcard time (no time specified) equals all date-time values for the same date. For example, the following dates are considered equal:

[12/12/2000] : [12/12/2000 1:00 PM] : [12/11/2000 - 12/13/2000]

These values are sorted in random order and may be ordered differently with each sort if multiple sorts are performed on them.

Example
See Also

Working with lists
"Enhancements to the formula language in Rnext" on the Lotus Developer Domain

Glossary