SORT

Description

Use this function to dynamically sort a range or array by one or more columns in ascending or descending order.

Syntax

SORT(array, [sort_column1], [sort_order1], [sort_order2], [sort_order3])

Inputs

This function accepts the following argument:

Name	Required	Description	Valid Input
`array`	Yes	The range or array to be sorted.	A cell, a cell range, or a formula which results in either of these.
`[sort_column1]`	No	The column number to sort by. First column (A) is 1.	A positive integer representing the column to sort, or a formula which results in a positive integer.
`[sort_order1]`	No	The sort order for the specified column. Default is 1 (sort in ascending order).	A positive integer with the value 1 (ascending), or -1 (descending), or a formula which results in one of these.
`[by_column]`	No	If the sorting is to be done by column. Default is FALSE (sort data vertically by rows).	TRUE or 1 = sort by column. FALSE or 0 = sort by row, or a formula which results in one of these.

Examples

Sample data

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Name	Surname	Age	City	Salary
2	John	Smith	35	Philadelphia	75000
3	Alice	Johnson	28	Chicago	65000
4	Bob	White	42	Los Angeles	85000
5	Harry	Harrison	33	Chicago	70000
6	Alice	Kramden	39	Brooklyn	72000

Sample formulas

Use case Formula Result and Explanation

Sort a dataset by a specific column in ascending order.

=SORT(A2:E6, 3, 1)

This formula sorts the entire dataset by Age in ascending order. For this data set it would return the following:

Alice	Johnson	28	Chicago	65000
Harry	Harrison	33	New York	70000
John	Smith	35	Philadelphia	75000
Alice	Kramden	39	Brooklyn	72000
Bob	White	42	Los Angeles	85000

Sorts a data set by a specific column in ascending order, while preserving the original row relationships.

=SORT(A2:E6, 4, 1, 0)

This formula sorts the entire range by the City column (column 4) in ascending order, while preserving the original row relationships. The by_col parameter (0) tells SORT to maintain the original row order for rows with identical values in the sort column. In this example, this keeps employees from the same city together while sorting the overall dataset alphabetically by city.

For this data set it would return the following:

Alice	Kramden	39	Brooklyn	72000
Alice	Johnson	28	Chicago	65000
Harry	Harrison	33	Chicago	70000
Bob	White	42	Los Angeles	85000
John	Smith	35	Philadelphia	75000

Select a subset of cells, and then sort that result by another column.

=SORT(FILTER(A2:E6, C2:C6>30), 5, -1)

This formula uses FILTER to select employees over 30
(C2:C6>30), then sorts by Salary in descending order. For this data set it would return the following:

Bob	White	42	Los Angeles	85000
John	Smith	35	New York	75000
Harry	Harrison	33	New York	72000

Generate a list of names that has no duplicates.

=SORT(UNIQUE(A2:A6), 1, 1)

This formula uses UNIQUE to build a list of names such that each name only occurs once in the list, and then sorts them alphabetically. For this data set it would return the following:

Alice
Bob
Harry
John

Find the name of the oldest person in a data set.

=TAKE(SORT(A2:B6, 2, -1), 1, 1)

This formula first sorts the data by age in descending order, so that the oldest person (Bob, age 42) appears first. TAKE then returns the first row's Name value. For this data set it would return the following:

Bob

Notes

The SORT function:

Can sort by multiple columns with a specified order.
Works with both static ranges and dynamic arrays.
Supports both ascending and descending sort orders.

Tips

If you have header row(s), start your array values one row down (for example in the data set above, start with A2 rather than A1) if you don't want the headers to be included.
SORT can be combined with other functions, including:
- FILTER: To sort filtered data.
- UNIQUE: To sort unique values.
- SEQUENCE: To generate and sort arrays.
- DROP: To remove rows (before or after sorting).

Related functions

Here are the other array formula functions supported in Workiva spreadsheets.

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