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Sorting

Miller gives you three ways to sort your data:

  • The sort verb lets you sort records (rows) by various fields (columns).
  • The sort-within-records verb lets you sort fields within records.
  • The sort DSL function gives you more customizable options for sorting data either within fields or across records. (See also the higher-order-functions page for related information.)

Sorting records: the sort verb

The sort verb (see its documentation for more information) reorders entire records within the data stream. You can sort lexically (with or without case-folding), numerically, or naturally (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_sort_order or https://github.com/facette/natsort for more about natural sorting); ascending or descending; and you can sort primarily by one column, then secondarily by another, etc.

Input data:

mlr --c2p cat example.csv
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430

Sorted numerically ascending by rate:

mlr --c2p sort -n rate example.csv
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870

Sorted lexically ascending by color; then, within each color, numerically descending by quantity:

mlr --c2p sort -f color -nr quantity example.csv
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870

Example of natural sort, adapted from https://github.com/facette/natsort:

mlr --c2p cat data/natsort.csv
n  name
1  Allegia 51 Clasteron
2  Callisto Morphamax 6000 SE
3  Xiph Xlater 58
4  1000X Radonius Maximus
5  20X Radonius Prime
6  30X Radonius
7  Alpha 2
8  Allegia 50 Clasteron
9  Alpha 2A-8000
10 200X Radonius
11 Allegia 50B Clasteron
12 Xiph Xlater 5
13 Callisto Morphamax 700
14 Xiph Xlater 500
15 Alpha 2A-900
16 20X Radonius
17 Callisto Morphamax 6000 SE2
18 Allegia 500 Clasteron
19 Alpha 100
20 Alpha 2A
21 Xiph Xlater 300
22 Callisto Morphamax
23 Callisto Morphamax 7000
24 10X Radonius
25 Xiph Xlater 40
26 Allegia 6R Clasteron
27 Callisto Morphamax 5000
mlr --c2p sort -t name data/natsort.csv
n  name
24 10X Radonius
16 20X Radonius
5  20X Radonius Prime
6  30X Radonius
10 200X Radonius
4  1000X Radonius Maximus
26 Allegia 6R Clasteron
8  Allegia 50 Clasteron
11 Allegia 50B Clasteron
1  Allegia 51 Clasteron
18 Allegia 500 Clasteron
7  Alpha 2
20 Alpha 2A
15 Alpha 2A-900
9  Alpha 2A-8000
19 Alpha 100
22 Callisto Morphamax
13 Callisto Morphamax 700
27 Callisto Morphamax 5000
2  Callisto Morphamax 6000 SE
17 Callisto Morphamax 6000 SE2
23 Callisto Morphamax 7000
12 Xiph Xlater 5
25 Xiph Xlater 40
3  Xiph Xlater 58
21 Xiph Xlater 300
14 Xiph Xlater 500

Sorting fields within records: the sort-within-records verb

The sort-within-records verb (see its documentation for more information) leaves records in their original order in the data stream, but reorders fields within each record. A typical use-case is for given all records the same column-ordering, in particular for converting JSON to CSV (or other tabular formats):

cat data/sort-within-records.json
{
  "a": 1,
  "b": 2,
  "c": 3
}
{
  "b": 4,
  "a": 5,
  "c": 6
}
{
  "c": 7,
  "b": 8,
  "a": 9
}
mlr --ijson --opprint cat data/sort-within-records.json
a b c
1 2 3

b a c
4 5 6

c b a
7 8 9
mlr --ijson --opprint sort-within-records data/sort-within-records.json
a b c
1 2 3
5 4 6
9 8 7

The sort function by example

  • It returns a sorted copy of an input array or map.
  • Without second argument, uses Miller's default ordering which is numbers numerically, then strings lexically.
  • With second which is string, takes sorting flags from it: "f" for lexical or "c" for case-folded lexical, or "t" for natural sort order. An additional "r" in this string is for reverse/descending.
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort array with default ordering
    print sort([5,2,3,1,4]);
  }
'
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort array with reverse-default ordering
    print sort([5,2,3,1,4], "r");
  }
'
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort array with custom function: another way to get default ordering
    print sort([5,2,3,1,4], func(a,b) { return a <=> b});
  }
'
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort array with custom function: another way to get reverse-default ordering
    print sort([5,2,3,1,4], func(a,b) { return b <=> a});
  }
'
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort map with default ordering on keys
    print sort({"c":2, "a": 3, "b": 1});
  }
'
{
  "a": 3,
  "b": 1,
  "c": 2
}
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort map with reverse-default ordering on keys
    print sort({"c":2, "a": 3, "b": 1}, "r");
  }
'
{
  "c": 2,
  "b": 1,
  "a": 3
}
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort map with custom function: default ordering on values
    print sort({"c":2, "a": 3, "b": 1}, func(ak,av,bk,bv){return av <=> bv});
  }
'
{
  "b": 1,
  "c": 2,
  "a": 3
}
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Sort map with custom function: reverse-default ordering on values
    print sort({"c":2, "a": 3, "b": 1}, func(ak,av,bk,bv){return bv <=> av});
  }
'
{
  "a": 3,
  "c": 2,
  "b": 1
}
mlr -n put '
  end {
    # Natural sort
    print sort(["a1","a10","a100","a2","a20","a200"], "t");
  }
'
["a1", "a2", "a10", "a20", "a100", "a200"]

In the rest of this page we'll look more closely at these variants.

Simple sorting of arrays

Using the sort function, you can get a copy of an array, sorted by its values -- optionally, with reversed order, and/or lexical/case-folded sorting. The first argument is an array to be sorted. The optional second argument is a string containing any of the characters n for numeric (the default anyway), f for lexical, or c for case-folded lexical, and r for reverse. Note that sort does not modify its argument; it returns a sorted copy.

Also note that all the flags to sort allow you to operate on arrays which contain strings, floats, and booleans; if you need to sort an array whose values are themselves maps or arrays, you'll need sort with function argument as described further down in this page.

cat data/sorta-example.csv
key,values
alpha,4;6;1;5
beta,7;9;9;8
gamma,11;2;1;12

Default sort is numerical ascending:

mlr --c2p --from data/sorta-example.csv put '
  $values = splita($values, ";");
  $values = sort($values);        # default flags
  $values = joinv($values, ";");
'
key   values
alpha 1;4;5;6
beta  7;8;9;9
gamma 1;2;11;12

Use the "r" flag for reverse, which is numerical descending:

mlr --c2p --from data/sorta-example.csv put '
  $values = splita($values, ";");
  $values = sort($values, "r");   # 'r' flag for reverse sort
  $values = joinv($values, ";");
'
key   values
alpha 6;5;4;1
beta  9;9;8;7
gamma 12;11;2;1

Use the "f" flag for lexical ascending sort (and "fr" would lexical descending):

mlr --c2p --from data/sorta-example.csv put '
  $values = splita($values, ";");
  $values = sort($values, "f");   # 'f' flag for lexical sort
  $values = joinv($values, ";");
'
key   values
alpha 1;4;5;6
beta  7;8;9;9
gamma 1;11;12;2

Without and with case-folding:

cat data/sorta-example-text.csv
key,values
alpha,cat;bat;Australia;Bavaria;apple;Colombia
alpha,cat;bat;Australia;Bavaria;apple;Colombia
mlr --c2p --from data/sorta-example-text.csv put '
  $values = splita($values, ";");
  if (NR == 1) {
    $values = sort($values, "f"); # 'f' flag for (non-folded) lexical sort
  } else {
    $values = sort($values, "c"); # 'c' flag for case-folded lexical sort
  }
  $values = joinv($values, ";");
'
key   values
alpha Australia;Bavaria;Colombia;apple;bat;cat
alpha apple;Australia;bat;Bavaria;cat;Colombia

Simple sorting of maps within records

Using the sort function, you can sort a map by its keys.

Since sort only gives you options for sorting a map by its keys, if you want to sort a map by its values you'll need sort with function argument as described further down in this page.

Also note that, unlike the sort-within-record verb with its -r flag, sort doesn't recurse into submaps and sort those.

cat data/server-log.json
{
  "hostname": "localhost",
  "pid": 12345,
  "req": {
    "id": 6789,
    "method": "GET",
    "path": "api/check",
    "host": "foo.bar",
    "headers": {
      "host": "bar.baz",
      "user-agent": "browser"
    }
  },
  "res": {
    "status_code": 200,
    "header": {
      "content-type": "text",
      "content-encoding": "plain"
    }
  }
}
mlr --json --from data/server-log.json put '
  $req = sort($req);      # Ascending here
  $res = sort($res, "r"); # Descending here
'
[
{
  "hostname": "localhost",
  "pid": 12345,
  "req": {
    "headers": {
      "host": "bar.baz",
      "user-agent": "browser"
    },
    "host": "foo.bar",
    "id": 6789,
    "method": "GET",
    "path": "api/check"
  },
  "res": {
    "status_code": 200,
    "header": {
      "content-type": "text",
      "content-encoding": "plain"
    }
  }
}
]

Simple sorting of maps across records

As discussed in the page on operating on all records, while Miller is normally streaming (we operate on one record at a time), we can accumulate records in an array-valued or map-valued out-of-stream variable, then operate on that record-list in an end block. This includes the possibility of accumulating records in a map, then sorting the map.

Using the f flag we're sorting the map keys (1-up NR) lexically, so we have 1, then 10, then 2:

mlr --icsv --opprint --from example.csv put -q '
  begin {
    @records = {};  # Define as a map
  }
  $nr = NR;
  @records[NR] = $*; # Accumulate
  end {
    @records = sort(@records, "f");
    for (_, record in @records) {
      emit1 record;
    }
  }
'
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate   nr
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870 1
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430 10
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130 2
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010 3
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670 4
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910 5
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310 6
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240 7
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370 8
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350 9

Custom sorting of arrays within records

Using the sort function, you can sort an array by its values, using another function (which you specify -- see the page on user-defined functions) for comparing elements.

  • Your function must take two arguments, which will range over various pairs of values in your array;
  • It must return a number which is negative, zero, or positive depending on whether you want the first argument to sort less than, equal to, or greater than the second, respectively.

For example, let's use the following input data. Instead of having an array, it has some semicolon-delimited data in a field which we can split and sort:

cat data/sortaf-example.csv
key,values
alpha,5;2;8;6;1;4;9;10;3;7

In the following example we sort data in several ways -- the first two just recapitulate (for reference) what sort with default flags already does; the third is novel:

mlr --icsv --ojson --from data/sortaf-example.csv put '

  # Same as sort($values)
  func forward(a,b) {
    return a <=> b
  }

  # Same as sort($values, "r")
  func reverse(a,b) {
    return b <=> a
  }

  # Custom sort
  func even_then_odd(a,b) {
    ax = a % 2;
    bx = b % 2;
    if (ax == bx) {
      return a <=> b
    } elif (bx == 1) {
      return -1
    } else {
      return 1
    }
  }

  split_values = splita($values, ";");
  $forward = sort(split_values, forward);
  $reverse = sort(split_values, reverse);
  $even_then_odd = sort(split_values, even_then_odd);
'
[
{
  "key": "alpha",
  "values": "5;2;8;6;1;4;9;10;3;7",
  "forward": [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10],
  "reverse": [10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1],
  "even_then_odd": [2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
}
]

Custom sorting of arrays across records

As noted above, we can use the operating-on-all-records paradigm to accumulate records in an array-valued or map-valued out-of-stream variable, then operate on that record-list in an end block. This includes the possibility of accumulating records in an array, then sorting the array.

Note that here the array elements are maps, so the a and b arguments to our functions are maps -- and we have to access the index field using either a["index"] and b["index"], or (using the dot operator for indexing) a.index and b.index.

mlr --icsv --opprint --from example.csv put -q '
  # Sort primarily ascending on the shape field, then secondarily
  # descending numeric on the index field.
  func cmp(a, b) {
    cmp1 = a.shape <=> b.shape;
    if (cmp1 != 0) {
      return cmp1
    } else {
      return b.index <=> a.index;
    }
  }
  begin {
    @records = [];  # Define as an array, else auto-create will make a map
  }
  @records[NR] = $*; # Accumulate
  end {
    @records = sort(@records, cmp);
    for (record in @records) {
      emit1 record;
    }
  }
'
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870

Custom sorting of maps within records

Using the sort function, you can sort a map using a function which you specify (see the page on user-defined functions) for comparing keys and/or values.

  • Your function must take four arguments, which will range over various pairs of key-value pairs in your map;
  • It must return a number which is negative, zero, or positive depending on whether you want the first argument to sort less than, equal to, or greater than the second, respectively.

For example, we can sort ascending or descending by map key or map value:

mlr -n put -q '
  func f1(ak, av, bk, bv) {
    return ak <=> bk
  }
  func f2(ak, av, bk, bv) {
    return bk <=> ak
  }
  func f3(ak, av, bk, bv) {
    return av <=> bv
  }
  func f4(ak, av, bk, bv) {
    return bv <=> av
  }
  end {
    x = {
      "c":1,
      "a":3,
      "b":2,
    };

    print sort(x, f1);
    print sort(x, f2);
    print sort(x, f3);
    print sort(x, f4);
  }
'
{
  "a": 3,
  "b": 2,
  "c": 1
}
{
  "c": 1,
  "b": 2,
  "a": 3
}
{
  "c": 1,
  "b": 2,
  "a": 3
}
{
  "a": 3,
  "b": 2,
  "c": 1
}

Custom sorting of maps across records

We can modify our above example just a bit, where we accumulate records in a map rather than an array. Here the map keys will be NR values "1", "2", etc.

Why would we do this? When we're operating across all records and keeping all of them -- densely -- accumulating them in an array is fine. If we're only taking a subset -- sparsely -- and we want to retain the original NR as keys, using a map is handy, since we don't need contiguous keys.

mlr --icsv --opprint --from example.csv put -q '
  # Sort descending numeric on the index field
  func cmp(ak, av, bk, bv) {
    return bv.index <=> av.index
  }
  begin {
    @records = {};  # Define as a map
  }
  @records[NR] = $*; # Accumulate
  end {
    @records = sort(@records, cmp);
    for (_, record in @records) {
      emit1 record;
    }
  }
'
color  shape    flag  k  index quantity rate
purple square   false 10 91    72.3735  8.2430
yellow circle   true  9  87    63.5058  8.3350
yellow circle   true  8  73    63.9785  4.2370
purple triangle false 7  65    80.1405  5.8240
red    square   false 6  64    77.1991  9.5310
purple triangle false 5  51    81.2290  8.5910
red    square   false 4  48    77.5542  7.4670
red    circle   true  3  16    13.8103  2.9010
red    square   true  2  15    79.2778  0.0130
yellow triangle true  1  11    43.6498  9.8870
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