Sorting

This article is about data sorting. For other uses, see Sort (disambiguation) and Sorting (sediment).
Manual typesetting required all of the type after use to be sorted back into the correct slots in the type case.

Sorting refers to ordering data in an increasing or decreasing manner according to some linear relationship among the data items.

  1. ordering: arranging items in a sequence ordered by some criterion;
  2. categorizing: grouping items with similar properties.

Ordering items is the combination of categorizing them based on equivalent order, and ordering the categories themselves.