Sorting Items

The preceding report lists items in an order based on where they are located in the file. Assume, however, that the user wants to display customer names in alphabetical order. To specify the order of items in a report, use a sort expression, which specifies the attribute by which to sort and whether to sort in ascending or descending order. A SORT statement consists of a command with sorting capabilities, (such as the SORT command), one of the four BY modifiers, and the name of the attribute whose data will be sorted.

This list includes sample sort expressions:

SORT CUSTOMERS BY LAST-NAME

SORT ORDERS BY-DSND AMOUNT

SORT ORDERS WITH AMOUNT > "250" BY AMOUNT

SORT CUSTOMERS BY STATE BY LAST-NAME

The following query example sorts customers by their last names:

>SORT CUSTOMERS WITH STATE = "IN" BY LAST-NAME LAST-NAME STREET CITY STATE ID-SUPP

PAGE 1		10:44:56 DD MMM YYYY

Last Name.	Street.............	City........	State

ASH	912A E. OAK STREET	INDIANAPOLIS	IN
BUCKLER	26 STONE AVENUE	LINCOLN	IN
JENKINS	1222 MAIN STREET	INDIANAPOLIS	IN
MASON	226 ROCK ROAD	LINCOLN	IN

4 ITEMS LISTED.

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