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B = sort(A) sorts the elements of A in ascending order along the first array dimension whose size does not equal 1.

If A is a vector, then sort(A) sorts the vector elements.
If A is a matrix, then sort(A) treats the columns of A as vectors and sorts each column.
If A is a multidimensional array, then sort(A) operates along the first array dimension whose size does not equal 1, treating the elements as vectors.

B = sort(A,dim) returns the sorted elements of A along dimension dim. For example, if A is a matrix, then sort(A,2) sorts the elements in each row.

B = sort(___,direction) returns sorted elements of A in the order specified by direction using any of the previous syntaxes. 'ascend', indicates ascending order (default) and 'descend' indicates descending order.

[B,I] = sort(___) also returns a collection of index vectors for any of the previous syntaxes. I is the same size as A and describes the arrangement of the elements of A into B along the sorted dimension. For example, if A is a numeric vector, B = A(I).

Examples

Sort Vector in Ascending Order

Create a row vector and sort its elements in ascending order.

A = [9 0 -7 5 3 8 -10 4 2];
B = sort(A)

B =

   -10    -7     0     2     3     4     5     8     9

Sort Matrix Rows in Ascending Order

Create a matrix and sort each of its rows in ascending order.

A = [3 6 5; 7 -2 4; 1 0 -9]

A =

     3     6     5
     7    -2     4
     1     0    -9

B = sort(A,2)

B =

     3     5     6
    -2     4     7
    -9     0     1

Sort Matrix Columns in Descending Order

Create a matrix and sort its columns in descending order.

A = [10 -12 4 8; 6 -9 8 0; 2 3 11 -2; 1 1 9 3]

A =

    10   -12     4     8
     6    -9     8     0
     2     3    11    -2
     1     1     9     3

B = sort(A,'descend')

B =

    10     3    11     8
     6     1     9     3
     2    -9     8     0
     1   -12     4    -2

Sort String Array

Starting in R2016b, you can create string arrays using the string function, and sort them using the sort function. Sort strings in each column of a string array according to Unicode® dictionary order.

A = string({'Smith','Burns';...
    'Jones','Matthews';...
    'Peterson','Adams'});
B = sort(A)

B = 

  3×2 string array

    "Jones"       "Adams"   
    "Peterson"    "Burns"   
    "Smith"       "Matthews"

Sort the strings in each row.

B = sort(A,2)

B = 

  3×2 string array

    "Burns"    "Smith"   
    "Jones"    "Matthews"
    "Adams"    "Peterson"

Text processing functions (such as strfind and regexp) accept string arrays as inputs, but other functions (for example, addpath) do not.

Sort and Index `datetime` Array

Create an array of datetime values and sort them in ascending order, that is, from the earliest to the latest calendar date.

ds = {'2012-12-22';'2063-04-05';'1992-01-12'};
A = datetime(ds,'Format','yyyy-MM-dd')

A = 

  3×1 datetime array

   2012-12-22
   2063-04-05
   1992-01-12

[B,I] = sort(A)

B = 

  3×1 datetime array

   1992-01-12
   2012-12-22
   2063-04-05


I =

     3
     1
     2

B lists the sorted dates and I contains the corresponding indices of A.

Access the sorted elements from the original array directly by using the index array I.

A(I)

ans = 

  3×1 datetime array

   1992-01-12
   2012-12-22
   2063-04-05

Sort 3-D Array

Create a 2-by-2-by-2 array and sort its elements in ascending order along the third dimension.

A(:,:,1) = [2 3; 1 6];
A(:,:,2) = [-1 9; 0 12];
A

A(:,:,1) =

     2     3
     1     6


A(:,:,2) =

    -1     9
     0    12

B = sort(A,3)

B(:,:,1) =

    -1     3
     0     6


B(:,:,2) =

     2     9
     1    12

Use A(:), the column representation of A, to sort all of the elements of A.

B = sort(A(:))

Input Arguments

`A` — Input array
vector | matrix | multidimensional array

Input array, specified as a vector, matrix, or multidimensional array.

If A is a scalar, then sort(A) returns A.
If A is an empty 0-by-0 matrix, then sort(A) returns an empty 0-by-0 matrix.
If A contains NaN values or undefined categorical or datetime elements, then sort(A) places them on the high end of the sort (as if they were large numbers).
If A is complex, then sort(A) sorts the elements by magnitude. If more than one element has equal magnitude, the elements are sorted by phase angle on the interval [−π, π].
If A is a character array or a string array, then sort(A) sorts the elements according to the code order for the UTF-16 character encoding scheme. The sort is case-sensitive.
- sort reorders strings within a string array, but does not reorder characters within the strings.

`dim` — Dimension to operate along
positive integer scalar

Dimension to operate along, specified as a positive integer scalar. If no value is specified, the default is the first array dimension whose size does not equal 1.

Consider a two-dimensional input array, A:

sort(A,1) sorts the elements in the columns of A.
sort(A,2) sorts the elements in the rows of A.

sort returns A if dim is greater than ndims(A). If A is a cell array, then dim is not supported.

`direction` — Sorting direction
`'ascend'` (default) | `'descend'`

Sorting direction, specified as 'ascend' or 'descend'. If A is a cell array, then direction is not supported.

Example: sort(A,2,'descend') sorts the rows of A in descending order.

Data Types: char

Output Arguments

`B` — Sorted array
vector | matrix | multidimensional array

Sorted array, returned as a vector, matrix, or multidimensional array the same size and type as A. The ordering of the elements in B preserves the order of any equal elements in A.

`I` — Sort index
vector | matrix | multidimensional array

Sort index, returned as a vector, matrix, or multidimensional array the same size as A. The index vectors are oriented along the same dimension that sort operates on. For example, if A is a 2-by-3 matrix, then [B,I] = sort(A,2) sorts the elements in each row of A. I is a collection of 1-by-3 row index vectors describing the rearrangement. If you do not specify dim, then [B,I] = sort(A) sorts the columns of A, and I is a collection of 2-by-1 column index vectors.

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