Meanings
plural sortkeys · alternative sort key
- computingA key (field or value) by which data items are sorted.
Sortkeys are made by picking out delimiting characters and special signs.
1975, Network, Library and Information Science Division of the World Information Systems Exchange, page 152 more examples
Output conversion routines may be applied to sortkey items before they are sorted.
1973, Generalized Data Base Management Systems, page 257In 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.
1985, Dagobert Soergel, Organizing Information: Principles of Data Base and Retrieval Systems (Library and Information Science Series), Academic Press, →ISBN, page 200
Origin
Translations
Finnish lajitteluavain
- lajitteluavainkey (field or value) by which data items are sorted
French clé de tri
- clé de trikey (field or value) by which data items are sorted
German Sortierschlüssel
- Sortierschlüsselkey (field or value) by which data items are sorted
Hungarian rendezési kulcs
- rendezési kulcskey (field or value) by which data items are sorted
Polish klucz sortowania
- klucz sortowaniakey (field or value) by which data items are sorted
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
sortkey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortkey
“sortkey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortkey. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sortkey,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sortkey.
Source: sortkey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.