MaxCompute:SORT_ARRAY

Syntax

array<T> sort_array(array<T> <a>[, <isasc>])

Parameters

• a: required. This parameter specifies an array. T in array<T> specifies the data type of the elements in the array. The elements can be of any data type.

• isasc: optional. This parameter specifies the order in which elements in the array are sorted. Valid values: true and false. The value true indicates the ascending order, and the value false indicates the descending order. If you do not specify this parameter, the elements are sorted in ascending order.

Return value

A value of the ARRAY type is returned. The value null is interpreted as the minimum value.

Examples

• Example 1: Sort data in the t_array table that contains the c1 ARRAY<STRING>, c2 ARRAY<INT>, and c3 ARRAY<STRING> columns. Data in the table:

  +------------+---------+--------------+
  | c1         | c2      | c3           |
  +------------+---------+--------------+
  | [a, c, f, b]  | [4, 5, 7, 2, 5, 8]  |  [You, Me, Him] |
  +------------+---------+--------------+

  Sort data in each column of the table. Sample statement:

  -- The return value is [a, b, c, f] [2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8] [Him, Me, You]. 
  select sort_array(c1),sort_array(c2),sort_array(c3) from t_array;

• Example 2: Sort the elements in array(10, 20, 40, 30, 30, null, 50) in descending order. Sample statement:

  -- The return value is [50, 40, 30, 30, 20, 10, null]. 
  select sort_array(array(10, 20, 40, 30, 30, null, 50), false);

Related functions

SORT_ARRAY is a complex type function. For more information about the functions that are used to process data of complex data types, such as ARRAY, MAP, STRUCT, and JSON, see Complex type functions.