# Sorting strings that contain numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487 "2012-10-28T16:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/1 "2012-10-28T16:48:12Z")
Hi guys. When sorting on a field that's a string, strings that contain numbers aren't sorted properly. For example, with these documents: { name: "Bob: 3 points" } { name: "Bob: 10 points" } { name: "Bob: 2 points" } When ES sorts on the "name" field, the documents are returned in this order: { name: "Bob: 10 points" } { name: "Bob: 2 points" } { name: "Bob: 3 points" } How can we get ES to return the documents in the following order? { name: "Bob: 2 points" } { name: "Bob: 3 points" } { name: "Bob: 10 points" } Thanks, Nick -- ---
**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:** [October 28, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/2 "2012-10-28T19:01:20Z")
IMHO you should index docs with 02 instead of 2. -- David 😉 Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs Le 28 oct. 2012 à 17:48, Nick Hoffman [nick@deadorange.com](mailto:nick@deadorange.com) a écrit : Hi guys. When sorting on a field that's a string, strings that contain numbers aren't sorted properly. For example, with these documents: { name: "Bob: 3 points" } { name: "Bob: 10 points" } { name: "Bob: 2 points" } When ES sorts on the "name" field, the documents are returned in this order: { name: "Bob: 10 points" } { name: "Bob: 2 points" } { name: "Bob: 3 points" } How can we get ES to return the documents in the following order? { name: "Bob: 2 points" } { name: "Bob: 3 points" } { name: "Bob: 10 points" } ## Thanks, Nick -- ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/3 "2012-10-28T19:10:52Z")
Hi David. Prefixing numbers with zeros won't work because that assumes that there's a constant number of digits in the number. On Sunday, 28 October 2012 15:01:37 UTC-4, David Pilato wrote: > IMHO you should index docs with 02 instead of 2. > > -- > David 😉 > Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs > > Le 28 oct. 2012 à 17:48, Nick Hoffman \<[ni...@deadorange.com](mailto:ni...@deadorange.com) \\> > a écrit : > > Hi guys. When sorting on a field that's a string, strings that contain > numbers aren't sorted properly. > > For example, with these documents: > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > > When ES sorts on the "name" field, the documents are returned in this > order: > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > > How can we get ES to return the documents in the following order? > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > > Thanks, > Nick > > -- -- ---
**Author:** ![Axsuul](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/axsuul/32/2663_2.png) [@Axsuul](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Axsuul)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/4 "2012-10-28T19:34:42Z")
Related [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Sorting-a-string-field-numerically-td4024557.html#a4024561](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Sorting-a-string-field-numerically-td4024557.html#a4024561) On Sunday, October 28, 2012 12:10:52 PM UTC-7, Nick Hoffman wrote: > Hi David. Prefixing numbers with zeros won't work because that assumes > that there's a constant number of digits in the number. > > On Sunday, 28 October 2012 15:01:37 UTC-4, David Pilato wrote: > > > IMHO you should index docs with 02 instead of 2. > > > > -- > > David 😉 > > Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs > > > > Le 28 oct. 2012 à 17:48, Nick Hoffman [ni...@deadorange.com](mailto:ni...@deadorange.com) a écrit : > > > > Hi guys. When sorting on a field that's a string, strings that contain > > numbers aren't sorted properly. > > > > For example, with these documents: > > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > > > > When ES sorts on the "name" field, the documents are returned in this > > order: > > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > > > > How can we get ES to return the documents in the following order? > > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > > > > Thanks, > > Nick > > > > -- -- ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Male](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/chris_male/32/2607_2.png) [@Chris\_Male](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chris_Male)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/5 "2012-10-29T02:40:02Z")
Could you split the data into multiple fields? So have a name field "Bob, Anne, etc" which is a string and a points field "3, 10, 2" which is a number. Then sort both fields together, name coming first? On Monday, October 29, 2012 5:48:12 AM UTC+13, Nick Hoffman wrote: > Hi guys. When sorting on a field that's a string, strings that contain > numbers aren't sorted properly. > > For example, with these documents: > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > > When ES sorts on the "name" field, the documents are returned in this > order: > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > > How can we get ES to return the documents in the following order? > { name: "Bob: 2 points" } > { name: "Bob: 3 points" } > { name: "Bob: 10 points" } > > Thanks, > Nick -- ---
**Author:** ![Nick\_Hoffman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nick_hoffman/32/1872_2.png) [@Nick\_Hoffman](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Nick_Hoffman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/6 "2012-10-29T02:54:01Z")
I'd definitely do that if I could, Chris. The strings that I'm indexing are names of objects that can't be split, unfortunately. E.g. Megatron (UN-04) The Amazing Spider-Man #44 G2 Optimus Prime This is why the sorting has to happen within ES. On Sunday, 28 October 2012 22:40:02 UTC-4, Chris Male wrote: > Could you split the data into multiple fields? So have a name field "Bob, > Anne, etc" which is a string and a points field "3, 10, 2" which is a > number. Then sort both fields together, name coming first? -- ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/7 "2012-10-30T14:34:31Z")
Hi Nick, thanks for your inspiration. It's a great idea. I just hacked together a plugin that can perform the desired sort by using a natural sort key in a Lucene token filter. > **[GitHub - jprante/elasticsearch-analysis-naturalsort: Natural sort plugin for...](https://github.com/jprante/elasticsearch-analysis-naturalsort)** > > Natural sort plugin for Elasticsearch. Contribute to jprante/elasticsearch-analysis-naturalsort development by creating an account on GitHub. The README is a little short but I hope it helps. See also the test file [https://github.com/jprante/elasticsearch-analysis-naturalsort/blob/master/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/analysis/naturalsort/NaturalSortKeyTests.java](https://github.com/jprante/elasticsearch-analysis-naturalsort/blob/master/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/analysis/naturalsort/NaturalSortKeyTests.java) As a bonus, a collator key sort is included (since the natural sort key extends the collator key, you have to add a "locale" parameter to the token filter if you want locale-sensitive sort) Cheers, Jörg On Monday, October 29, 2012 3:54:01 AM UTC+1, Nick Hoffman wrote: > I'd definitely do that if I could, Chris. The strings that I'm indexing > are names of objects that can't be split, unfortunately. E.g. > > Megatron (UN-04) > The Amazing Spider-Man #44 > G2 Optimus Prime > > This is why the sorting has to happen within ES. > > On Sunday, 28 October 2012 22:40:02 UTC-4, Chris Male wrote: > > > Could you split the data into multiple fields? So have a name field "Bob, > > Anne, etc" which is a string and a points field "3, 10, 2" which is a > > number. Then sort both fields together, name coming first? -- ---
**Author:** ![bbehling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@bbehling](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bbehling)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/8 "2015-01-23T18:13:55Z")
Jörg, Will your plugin work with ES version 1.3.4? ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/9 "2015-01-26T12:45:06Z")
Yes, there is a version for ES 1.3.4 Jörg On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 7:13 PM, bbehling [brian.behling@gmail.com](mailto:brian.behling@gmail.com) wrote: > Jörg, > > Will your plugin work with ES version 1.3.4? > > -- > View this message in context: > [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers-tp4024553p4069501.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers-tp4024553p4069501.html) > Sent from the Elasticsearch Users mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com). > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > To view this discussion on the web visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/1422036835206-4069501.post%40n3.nabble.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/1422036835206-4069501.post%40n3.nabble.com) > . > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAKdsXoHgRyFRgTMnv61ukyWNfEw4hKX3UHHFdEg7n0upqKLJBQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAKdsXoHgRyFRgTMnv61ukyWNfEw4hKX3UHHFdEg7n0upqKLJBQ%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ---
**Author:** ![iti\_netapp.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9e8a1a/32.png) [@iti\_netapp.com](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/iti_netapp.com)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/10 "2016-11-29T23:03:37Z")
Hi, Are you planning to have a version for ES for ES 5.0? ---
**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, 10:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-strings-that-contain-numbers/9487/11 "2017-07-05T22:05:22Z")