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List.nsort([attributeRefStr])


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 Function  [other Function type actions]

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Syntax note: Operators without any defined mandatory arguments may omit their empty closing parentheses


List.nsort([attributeRefStr])

List.nsort()

The basic form

$MyList = $MyList.nsort(); 

$MyList = $MyList.nsort().reverse(); 

This function re-sorts the referenced list's values in ascending numerical sort order. This means sorting '1,2,11' not 1,11,2' such as occurs with sort() and a lexical sort. A numerical sort is really only useful for numerical data. This implies:

For most string (text) values and Date-type date, consider List.sort() or List.isort(), both of which give lexical sorts of differing case sensitivity. The resulting sort order can be reversed overall by chaining the List.nsort() and List.reverse() functions.

This operator does not apply to Set-type lists because as from v9.0.0 Sets now auto-sort and cannot be (reliably) user-sorted to a different order.

List.nsort(attributeRefStr)

Here the referenced list must be a list of note names or paths, i.e. list $Name data or $Path data (but not a mix of the two). If note names are not unique within the document, path values must be used to achieve correct sort. This form of sort cannot be used with any other sort of value list. This operator cannot be applied to any list of values, unlike the short form above.

In this form, the sort order can be based on the value of the stipulated attributeRefStr (a $-prefixed attribute name). The attribute's value is derived from the item identified by the $Name or $Path of the list item being evaluated:

$MyList = $collect(children, $Name).nsort($PageNumber); 

$MyList = $collect_if(find($Prototype=="pProduct"), $Price>0,$Path).nsort($Price); 

In this long form usage, the sort ordering is based on the data type of attributeRefStr: