Sort

Order rows by one or more column values.

Palette name	Sort (category Compute)
Type name	Sort

Sockets

Socket	Direction	Description
input	Input	Data to sort
output	Output	Sorted data

Configuration

The Sort tool shows a table of all available columns. For each column, select a sort order:

Option	Description
None	Don't sort by this column
Ascending	Sort low to high (A-Z, 0-9)
Descending	Sort high to low (Z-A, 9-0)
Ascending (nulls first)	Ascending, nulls at the top
Descending (nulls first)	Descending, nulls at the top

Multi-Column Sorting

When multiple columns have sort orders set, they are applied in sequence:

1. First, data is sorted by the first column with a sort order
2. Ties are broken by the second column
3. And so on for additional columns

Example

To sort by department (ascending), then by salary (descending within each department):

1. Set department to "Ascending"
2. Set salary to "Descending"

Result: Rows are grouped by department alphabetically, and within each department, employees are ordered by salary from highest to lowest.

Null Handling

By default, null values sort to the end (after all non-null values).

Use the "nulls first" options to put nulls at the beginning instead:

• Ascending (nulls first): nulls, then low to high
• Descending (nulls first): nulls, then high to low

Examples

Simple Sort

Sort customers by name alphabetically:

1. Find the name column
2. Select "Ascending"

Sort by Date (Newest First)

Show most recent records first:

1. Find the created_at column
2. Select "Descending"

Sort with Tie-Breaking

Sort products by category, then by price within category:

1. Set category to "Ascending"
2. Set price to "Ascending"

Notes

• Empty configuration: If no columns have sort orders, data passes through unchanged
• Column order: The order of columns in the configuration table determines tie-breaking priority
• Schema unchanged: Sort only affects row order, not columns
• Stable sort: Rows with equal values maintain their relative order from the input