The SORT command (and its variations, including SORT-ITEM and SORT-LABEL) produces reports in which file items are arranged:
According to the data specified by any attribute name
In ascending or descending order
As described earlier, the LIST command generates unsequenced reports in which the items appear in no particular order. It is extremely useful to be able to display file items in sorted order, for instance, by customer name, zip code, state or by numeric values such as dollar figures and dates.
To sort file items in ascending order, include the word BY followed by the name of the desired attribute. To sort items in descending order, use the BY-DSND modifier.
This query sorts customers in ascending order by last name (beginning with A):
|
>SORT CUSTOMERS BY LAST-NAME |
The next query sorts customers in descending order by state (beginning with Z):
|
>SORT CUSTOMERS BY-DSND STATE |
The justification (line 9 in the Attribute Definition item) of the attribute determines the type of sort. If the attribute is left-justified (L), the sort is alphabetical, whereas if the attribute is right-justified (R), the sort is numeric if the data is numeric. Nonnumeric characters are sorted by their ASCII value.
The table below shows the same set of item-IDs sorted in ascending order. The first list is left-justified; the second is right-justified. Notice the difference in the sort order.
|
Left-Justified |
Right-Justified |
|
1 |
1 |
|
10 |
2 |
|
100 |
10 |
|
101 |
11 |
|
10101 |
20 |
|
11 |
22 |
|
110 |
100 |
|
111 |
101 |
|
2 |
110 |
|
20 |
111 |
|
200 |
200 |
|
201 |
201 |
|
22 |
220 |
|
220 |
222 |
|
222 |
10101 |
The following topics are presented in this section:
Sorting By Multiple Attributes
See Also
Producing Reports with LIST and SORT
Using the LIST and SORT Commands