Containers and agents may apply a transform before sorting string attributes. The transform is selected from a pop-up menu in the container or the Action Inspector's Sort sub-tab.
The resulting setting is stored in the attributes $SortTransform and $SortAlsoTransform which may also be set directly to control the sort transform.
The available transforms (further described here) include:
- case-sensitive.
- case-insensitive.
- last word. This is useful to sort note titles that are names, i.e. 'John Doe' sorts as for 'Doe' not 'John...'.
- original note. Sorts as per the $Outline order of the original of the alias.
- library sorting. Library sorting ignores initial words "a", "an", and "the". The defaults can be configured via the document's Hints section—see more detail for the 'library sorting' note.
See also: lexical vs. numerical sorting.