yq/operators/sort.md

Sort

Sorts an array. Use sort to sort an array as is, or sort_by to sort by a particular subfield.

Note that at this stage, yq only sorts scalar fields.

Sort by string field

Given a sample.yml file of:

- a: banana
- a: cat
- a: apple

then

yq eval 'sort_by(.a)' sample.yml

will output

- a: apple
- a: banana
- a: cat

Sort is stable

Note the order of the elements in unchanged when equal in sorting.

Given a sample.yml file of:

- a: banana
  b: 1
- a: banana
  b: 2
- a: banana
  b: 3
- a: banana
  b: 4

then

yq eval 'sort_by(.a)' sample.yml

will output

- a: banana
  b: 1
- a: banana
  b: 2
- a: banana
  b: 3
- a: banana
  b: 4

Sort by numeric field

Given a sample.yml file of:

- a: 10
- a: 100
- a: 1

then

yq eval 'sort_by(.a)' sample.yml

will output

- a: 1
- a: 10
- a: 100

Sort, nulls come first

Given a sample.yml file of:

- 8
- 3
- null
- 6
- true
- false
- cat

then

yq eval 'sort' sample.yml

will output

- null
- false
- true
- 3
- 6
- 8
- cat