# Sorting using filter icu\_collation results in sort key gobbledygook: ᖔ乏昫တ倈⠀\\u0001

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-using-filter-icu-collation-results-in-sort-key-gobbledygook-u0001/26867>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 5, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-using-filter-icu-collation-results-in-sort-key-gobbledygook-u0001/26867 "2015-08-05T09:15:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jaWa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@jaWa](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jaWa)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-using-filter-icu-collation-results-in-sort-key-gobbledygook-u0001/26867/1 "2015-08-05T09:15:57Z")

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I hope I can get some help here.

As per the docs for [Sorting & Collation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/current/sorting-collations.html) when I use the icu\_collation token filter I see the behavior when I sort over the companyName as described in the documents:

> Note that the sort key returned with each document, which in earlier examples looked like brown and böhm, now looks like **gobbledygook: ᖔ乏昫တ倈⠀\u0001**. The reason is that the icu\_collation filter emits keys intended only for efficient sorting, not for any other purposes.

```
{  
   "_index":"myIndex",
   "_type":"company",
   "_id":"12345678",
   "_score":null,
   "_source":{  
      "id":12345678,
      "companyName":"XYZ",
      "hasLogo":false
   },
   "sort":[  
      "ⶬ䯔⦠䋒䥹擼刂ခ湠眂"
   ]
}

```

What I still dont understand is the reason for having "gobbledgook" in my sort key? Is there a way to remove it? When sorting over the companyName I was expecting to have this sort key to have value similar to the field value companyName.

---

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**Author:** ![Clinton\_Gormley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Clinton\_Gormley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Clinton_Gormley)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-using-filter-icu-collation-results-in-sort-key-gobbledygook-u0001/26867/2 "2015-08-05T09:37:43Z")

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Hi jaWa

The ICU collation key is a compact binary representation of a sort value. Its only purpose is for sorting according to the chosen collation, nothing more. You can't get rid of it. If you want the companyName, then just extract it from the `_source`

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**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, 11:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sorting-using-filter-icu-collation-results-in-sort-key-gobbledygook-u0001/26867/3 "2017-07-05T23:57:18Z")

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