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<blockquote>
<p>Apache Druid supports two query languages: <a href="/docs/latest/querying/sql.html">Druid SQL</a> and <a href="/docs/latest/querying/querying.html">native queries</a>.
This document describes the native
language. For information about functions available in SQL, refer to the
<a href="/docs/latest/querying/sql.html#scalar-functions">SQL documentation</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These sorting orders are used by the <a href="/docs/latest/querying/topnmetricspec.html">TopNMetricSpec</a>, <a href="/docs/latest/querying/searchquery.html">SearchQuery</a>, GroupByQuery's <a href="/docs/latest/querying/limitspec.html">LimitSpec</a>, and <a href="./filters.html#bound-filter">BoundFilter</a>.</p>
<h2><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="lexicographic"></a><a href="#lexicographic" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Lexicographic</h2>
<p>Sorts values by converting Strings to their UTF-8 byte array representations and comparing lexicographically, byte-by-byte.</p>
<h2><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="alphanumeric"></a><a href="#alphanumeric" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Alphanumeric</h2>
<p>Suitable for strings with both numeric and non-numeric content, e.g.: &quot;file12 sorts after file2&quot;</p>
<p>See <a href="https://github.com/amjjd/java-alphanum">https://github.com/amjjd/java-alphanum</a> for more details on how this ordering sorts values.</p>
<p>This ordering is not suitable for numbers with decimal points or negative numbers.</p>
<ul>
<li>For example, &quot;1.3&quot; precedes &quot;1.15&quot; in this ordering because &quot;15&quot; has more significant digits than &quot;3&quot;.</li>
<li>Negative numbers are sorted after positive numbers (because numeric characters precede the &quot;-&quot; in the negative numbers).</li>
</ul>
<h2><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="numeric"></a><a href="#numeric" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Numeric</h2>
<p>Sorts values as numbers, supports integers and floating point values. Negative values are supported.</p>
<p>This sorting order will try to parse all string values as numbers. Unparseable values are treated as nulls, and nulls precede numbers.</p>
<p>When comparing two unparseable values (e.g., &quot;hello&quot; and &quot;world&quot;), this ordering will sort by comparing the unparsed strings lexicographically.</p>
<h2><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="strlen"></a><a href="#strlen" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Strlen</h2>
<p>Sorts values by the their string lengths. When there is a tie, this comparator falls back to using the String compareTo method.</p>
<h2><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="version"></a><a href="#version" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>Version</h2>
<p>Sorts values as versions, e.g.: &quot;10.0 sorts after 9.0&quot;, &quot;1.0.0-SNAPSHOT sorts after 1.0.0&quot;.</p>
<p>See <a href="https://maven.apache.org/ref/3.6.0/maven-artifact/apidocs/org/apache/maven/artifact/versioning/ComparableVersion.html">https://maven.apache.org/ref/3.6.0/maven-artifact/apidocs/org/apache/maven/artifact/versioning/ComparableVersion.html</a> for more details on how this ordering sorts values.</p>
</span></div></article></div><div class="docs-prevnext"><a class="docs-prev button" href="/docs/latest/querying/topnmetricspec.html"><span class="arrow-prev">← </span><span class="function-name-prevnext">Sorting (topN)</span></a><a class="docs-next button" href="/docs/latest/querying/virtual-columns.html"><span>Virtual columns</span><span class="arrow-next"> →</span></a></div></div></div><nav class="onPageNav"><ul class="toc-headings"><li><a href="#lexicographic">Lexicographic</a></li><li><a href="#alphanumeric">Alphanumeric</a></li><li><a href="#numeric">Numeric</a></li><li><a href="#strlen">Strlen</a></li><li><a href="#version">Version</a></li></ul></nav></div><footer class="nav-footer druid-footer" id="footer"><div class="container"><div class="text-center"><p><a href="/technology">Technology</a> · <a href="/use-cases">Use Cases</a> · <a href="/druid-powered">Powered by Druid</a> · <a href="/docs/latest/latest">Docs</a> · <a href="/community/">Community</a> · <a href="/downloads.html">Download</a> · <a href="/faq">FAQ</a></p></div><div class="text-center"><a title="Join the user group" href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/druid-user" target="_blank"><span class="fa fa-comments"></span></a> · <a title="Follow Druid" href="https://twitter.com/druidio" target="_blank"><span class="fab fa-twitter"></span></a> · <a title="Download via Apache" href="https://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi?path=/incubator/druid/{{ site.druid_versions[0].versions[0].version }}/apache-druid-{{ site.druid_versions[0].versions[0].version }}-bin.tar.gz" target="_blank"><span class="fas fa-feather"></span></a> · <a title="GitHub" href="https://github.com/apache/druid" target="_blank"><span class="fab fa-github"></span></a></div><div class="text-center license">Copyright © 2019 <a href="https://www.apache.org/" target="_blank">Apache Software Foundation</a>.<br/>Except where otherwise noted, licensed under <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>.<br/>Apache Druid, Druid, and the Druid logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation in the United States and other countries.</div></div></footer></div><script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/docsearch.js/1/docsearch.min.js"></script><script>
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