Workflow: Ordering data with the Sort block

Ian Balanzá-Davis

The Sort block enables you to order a dataset based on one or more variables.

The following demonstrates how to use the Sort block to sort an input dataset lib_books.csv (which contains observations that describe a range of books available from a lending library) using the values in the Author variable:

1. Import the lib_books.csv dataset onto a Workflow canvas using the Text File Import block.
2. Expand the Data Preparation group in the Workflow palette, then click and drag a Sort block onto the Workflow canvas.
3. Click Output port of the lib_books dataset block and drag a connection towards the Input port of the Sort block.
4. Double-click the Sort block to display the Configure Sort dialog box.
5. In the Configure Sort dialog box:
   1. In the Unselected Variables list, select Author.
   2. Click Select to move the variable to the Selected Variables list.
   
6. Click OK to save the configuration and close the Configure Sort dialog box.

A green execution status is displayed in the Output ports of the Sort block and the new Working Dataset. The Sort block output dataset contains the input lib_books.csv dataset ordered by Author.