> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pentaho.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/10.2-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/sort-rows-transformation-step/general-sort-rows-step/field-settings-sort-rows-step.md).

# Fields column settings

The Sort rows step includes options to refine your sort based on settings for the individual fields. Click the column titles to sort each column.

| Setting                           | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Field names**                   | Name of the field on the stream.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Ascending**                     | Specify **Y** to sort in ascending order. Specify **N** to sort in descending order.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Case sensitive compare?**       | Specify **Y** to sort by case usage. Specify **N** to ignore case.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| **Sort based on current locale?** | Specify **Y** to sort based on the system's current locale. Specify **N** to sort based on a standard UTF-8.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| **Collator strength**             | <p>If you selected <strong>Y</strong> for <strong>Sort based on current locale?</strong>, specify an integer between <code>0</code> and <code>3</code> that defines what type of conditional differences govern or override when performing a sort. Exact definitions of each strength vary by locale.- <strong>0</strong></p><p>Primary. Common example:</p><p><code>a</code> vs <code>b</code></p><p>Case and accents of the letter are not considered.</p><ul><li><strong>1</strong></li></ul><p>Secondary. Common example:</p><p><code>a</code> vs <code>ä</code></p><p>Accents are considered different, but case is not considered.</p><ul><li><strong>2</strong></li></ul><p>Tertiary. Common example:</p><p><code>A</code> vs <code>a</code></p><p>Case sensitive compare.</p><ul><li><strong>3</strong></li></ul><p>Identical. Strings must be identical. Example:</p><p><code>\u0001</code> vs <code>\u0002</code></p><p>Non-printable control characters are considered different.</p> |
| **Presorted?**                    | Select **Y** if the data in this field is already sorted. Presorting improves sort efficiency. If you select Y, this field must be either the first, or among the first set of fields in the list. Click **Presorted?** to sort and move all the presorted fields to the top of the table. Select **N** if the data in this field is not sorted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |


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