# Sort is giving invalid results

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 29, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680 "2016-03-29T11:53:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pranesh002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@pranesh002](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pranesh002)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/1 "2016-03-29T11:53:18Z")

</div>

Hi,

I am using transport client in my application. When i search against multiple indices (user-\*) and sort them by date it is giving invalid result set. Can some one help me to fix that.

Thanks  
Pranesh

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/2 "2016-03-29T12:14:29Z")

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May be you can share an example?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pranesh002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@pranesh002](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pranesh002)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/3 "2016-03-31T18:21:14Z")

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Hi David,

This is my search query and result

```
POST /user-x187/_search?from=0&size=10
{
    "_source" : ["policyNumer",
               "userId", "companyId", "dateOfJoining", "phoneNumber"], 
    "sort": [
       {
          "dateOfJoining": {
              "order": "desc"
          }
       }
    ], 
     "query": {
        "multi_match": {
            "query": "234567891", 
            "fields": [
               "policyNumer.raw",
               "policyNumer",
               "userId",
               "companyId",
               "phoneNumber"
            ],
            "minimum_should_match":"100"
        }
    },
    "highlight" : {
        "require_field_match": true,
        "fields" : {
            "userId" : {},
            "policyNumer":{},
            "policyNumer.raw":{},
            "companyId":{},
            "phoneNumber":{}
        }
    }
}

```

Result:

```
{  
   "searchResult":{  
      "took":273,
      "timed_out":false,
      "_shards":{  
         "total":1920,
         "successful":1920,
         "failed":0
      },
      "hits":{  
         "total":19,
         "max_score":null,
         "hits":[  
            {  
               "_index":"user-x678",
               "_type":"user",
               "_id":"SEARCH00011",
               "_score":null,
               "_source":{  
                  "dateOfJoining":"12/25/2010, 12:00:00 AM -0500"
                  "policyNumber":"SPRINT101NUMBER6",
                  "phoneNumber":"234567891"
                  "userId":"SEARCH00011",
                  "companyId":"x678"
               },
               "highlight":{  
                  "phoneNumber":[  
                     "<em>234567891</em>"
                  ]
               },
               "sort":[  
                  "12/25/2010, 12:00:00 AM -0500"
               ]
            },
            {  
               "_index":"user-x678",
               "_type":"user",
               "_id":"SEARCH00009",
               "_score":null,
               "_source":{  
                  "dateOfJoining":"08/09/2015, 12:00:00 AM -0400"
                  "policyNumber":"SPRINT101NUMBER9",
                  "phoneNumber":"234567891"
                  "userId":"SEARCH00009",
                  "companyId":"x678"
               },
               "highlight":{  
                  "phoneNumber":[  
                     "<em>234567891</em>"
                  ]
               },
               "sort":[  
                  "08/09/2015, 12:00:00 AM -0400"
               ]
            }
        ]
    }
}
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/4 "2016-03-31T19:37:44Z")

</div>

Please format your code with `</>` icon. I updated your post.

`12/25/2010` \> `08/09/2015` when you compare Strings. And I'm pretty sure that your mapping will tell you that your field `dateOfJoining` is actually a String, right?

So if you want to sort on a date, you need to make sure that this field is a date.  
It means, create the right mapping for your documents.

I hope this helps.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pranesh002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@pranesh002](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pranesh002)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/5 "2016-03-31T19:46:44Z")

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Thanks David. yes you are right my mapping was wrong.

"dateOfJoining":{"type":"string","index":"not\_analyzed","doc\_values":true}, I will update the mapping.

Thanks,  
Pranesh

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sort-is-giving-invalid-results/45680/6 "2017-07-05T23:03:29Z")

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