sortkey

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English

Etymology

From sort +‎ key.

Noun

sortkey (plural sortkeys)

  1. (computing) A key (field or value) by which data items are sorted.
    • 1973, Generalized Data Base Management Systems, page 257:
      Output conversion routines may be applied to sortkey items before they are sorted.
    • 1975, Network, Library and Information Science Division of the World Information Systems Exchange, page 15:
      Sortkeys are made by picking out delimiting characters and special signs.
    • 1985, Dagobert Soergel, Organizing Information: Principles of Data Base and Retrieval Systems (Library and Information Science Series), Academic Press, →ISBN, page 200:
      In data-processing terminology, descriptors by which a file is ordered are called sortkeys. (Likewise, descriptors used in searching are called search keys.) A library catalog may be arranged by sortkey 1: author, and sortkey 2: title.

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