nsort (';' LIST )+

Summary

The nsort macro combines one or more lists and sorts their contents numerically. Unlike alphabetic sorting, it treats values as numbers, so “2” comes before “10”.

Syntax

${nsort;<list>[;<list>...]}

Parameters

• list - One or more semicolon-separated lists to sort (items within lists are comma-separated)

Behavior

• Combines all provided lists into a single list
• Strips leading zeros from values for comparison
• Sorts primarily by numeric length (shorter numbers first)
• For values of equal length, sorts lexicographically
• Returns a comma-separated sorted list

Examples

Sort numbers correctly:

${nsort;10,2,1,20,3}
# Returns: "1,2,3,10,20" (not "1,10,2,20,3")

Sort with leading zeros:

${nsort;001,010,002,100}
# Returns: "1,2,10,100" (leading zeros removed)

Combine and sort multiple lists:

${nsort;5,15,25;10,20,30}
# Returns: "5,10,15,20,25,30"

Sort version-like numbers:

${nsort;1,11,2,21,3}
# Returns: "1,2,3,11,21"

Use Cases

• Sorting version numbers or identifiers
• Ordering numeric strings correctly
• Sorting file numbers or indices
• Version lists in proper numeric order
• Port numbers or numeric identifiers
• Any list where numeric order matters

Notes

• Sorts by length first, then lexicographically
• Leading zeros are stripped before comparison
• All values are treated as strings during comparison
• Shorter numbers always come before longer numbers
• For equal-length values, uses string comparison
• See also: ${sort} for alphabetic sorting
• See also: ${vcompare} for semantic version comparison

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java