CSV sort

csv-sort · version 1.0.0 · CSV & tables · free, no key needed

Stably sort CSV rows by exact named string columns.

Use when you need to: csv sort · sort csv rows · sort csv ascending.

Supported

• csv sort
• sort csv rows
• sort csv ascending
• sort csv descending
• sort csv by columns

Not supported

• numeric sort
• locale sort
• natural sort
• fuzzy matching
• mixed sort directions
• read files
• fetch urls

Behavior

• key_columns names unique existing headers exactly; listed order determines multi-key precedence.
• Values are compared lexicographically by JavaScript UTF-16 code units without locale or numeric coercion.
• order is ascending by default and may be descending; equal keys retain input order in either direction.
• Header-only input is supported; an empty document is rejected because it has no header.
• The first header name may not begin with U+FEFF because it is ambiguous with a CSV byte-order mark.

Input

• csv (string, required): max length 256000
• key_columns (array of string, required): min items 1; max items 256; each min length 1
• order (one of "ascending", "descending", optional): default "ascending"

Output

• string

Limits

• max input bytes: 256000
• max data rows: 5000
• max columns: 256
• max header name bytes: 256
• max key columns: 256
• max output bytes: 256000

Example

Request input:

{
  "csv": "team,name\nb,Ada\na,Zoe\na,Ada\n",
  "key_columns": [
    "team",
    "name"
  ]
}

Response:

{
  "result": "team,name\na,Ada\na,Zoe\nb,Ada\n"
}

How to call it

MCP

Connect https://computefirst.net/mcp (setup), then call execute with:

{
  "id": "csv-sort",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "input": {
    "csv": "team,name\nb,Ada\na,Zoe\na,Ada\n",
    "key_columns": [
      "team",
      "name"
    ]
  }
}

HTTP (no key)

curl -X POST https://computefirst.net/v1/tools/csv-sort/versions/1.0.0/execute \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"csv":"team,name\nb,Ada\na,Zoe\na,Ada\n","key_columns":["team","name"]}'

The machine-readable contract is at /v1/tools/csv-sort/versions/1.0.0.

CLI

node cli.mjs run csv-sort 1.0.0 --input input.json --base-url https://computefirst.net

Get the client at /clients/cli/.

Related tools

• CSV dedupe: Remove duplicate CSV data rows while preserving the first occurrence.
• CSV group count: Count CSV rows by exact named-column tuples in first-seen order.
• CSV row diff: Compare two CSV documents with identical headers by unique key tuples and report added, removed, and changed rows.
• CSV split column: Split one CSV column on an exact separator into uniquely named columns.
• CSV transpose: Transpose a CSV matrix including the header row, then re-validate headers.
• CSV add row number: Prepend a 1-based row_number column of canonical integer strings.