Data Grid - Sorting

Easily sort your rows based on one or several criteria.

Sorting is enabled by default to the Data Grid users and works out of the box without any explicit configuration. Users can set a sorting rule simply by clicking on a column header. Following clicks change the column's sorting direction. You can see the applied direction on the header's arrow indicator.

Single and multi-sorting

Multi-sorting

The following demo lets you sort the rows according to several criteria at the same time.

Hold down the Ctrl or Shift (use ⌘ Command on macOS) key while clicking the column header.

Pass sorting rules to the Data Grid

Structure of the model

The sort model is a list of sorting items. Each item represents a sorting rule and is composed of several elements:

• sortingItem.field: the field on which the rule applies.
• sortingItem.sort: the direction of the sorting ('asc', 'desc', null or undefined). If null or undefined, the rule doesn't apply.

Initialize the sort model

Sorting is enabled by default to the user. But if you want to set an initial sorting order, simply provide the model to the initialState prop.

<DataGrid
  initialState={{
    sorting: {
      sortModel: [{ field: 'rating', sort: 'desc' }],
    },
  }}
/>

Controlled sort model

Use the sortModel prop to control the state of the sorting rules.

You can use the onSortModelChange prop to listen to changes in the sorting rules and update the prop accordingly.

Disable the sorting

For all columns

Sorting is enabled by default, but you can easily disable this feature by setting the disableColumnSorting prop.

<DataGrid disableColumnSorting />

For some columns

By default, all columns are sortable. To disable sorting on a column, set the sortable property of GridColDef to false. In the following demo, the user cannot sort the rating column from the UI.

<DataGrid columns={[...columns, { field: 'rating', sortable: false }]} />

Sorting non-sortable columns programmatically

The columns with colDef.sortable set to false are not sortable from the grid UI but could still be sorted programmatically. To add a sort rule to such a column, you could initialize the sortModel, use the sortModel prop, or use the API methods sortColumn or setSortModel.

In the following demo, the firstName column is not sortable by the default grid UI, but it is sorted programmatically by a custom built UI.

Custom comparator

A comparator determines how two cell values should be sorted.

Each column type comes with a default comparator method. You can re-use them by importing the following functions:

• gridStringOrNumberComparator (used by the string and singleSelect columns)
• gridNumberComparator (used by the number and boolean columns)
• gridDateComparator (used by the date and date-time columns)

To extend or modify this behavior in a specific column, you can pass in a custom comparator, and override the sortComparator property of the GridColDef interface.

Create a comparator from scratch

In the following demo, the "Created on" column sorting is based on the day of the month of the createdOn field. It is a fully custom sorting comparator.

Combine built-in comparators

In the following demo, the "Name" column combines the name and isAdmin fields. The sorting is based on isAdmin and then on name, if necessary. It re-uses the built-in sorting comparator.

Asymmetric comparator

The Data Grid considers the sortComparator function symmetric, automatically reversing the return value for descending sorting by multiplying it by -1.

While this is sufficient for most use cases, it is possible to define an asymmetric comparator using the getSortComparator function – it receives the sorting direction as an argument and returns a comparator function.

In the demo below, the getSortComparator function is used in the "Quantity" column to keep the null values at the bottom when sorting is applied (regardless of the sorting direction):

Custom sort order

By default, the sort order cycles between these three different modes:

const sortingOrder = ['asc', 'desc', null];

In practice, when you click a column that is not sorted, it will sort ascending (asc). The next click will make it sort descending (desc). Another click will remove the sort (null), reverting to the order that the data was provided in.

For all columns

The default sort order can be overridden for all columns with the sortingOrder prop. In the following demo, columns are only sortable in descending or ascending order.

Per column

Sort order can be configured (and overridden) on a per-column basis by setting the sortingOrder property of the GridColDef interface:

const columns: GridColDef = [
  { field: 'rating', sortingOrder: ['desc', 'asc', null] },
];

Server-side sorting

Sorting can be run server-side by setting the sortingMode prop to server, and implementing the onSortModelChange handler.

apiRef

Selectors

More information about the selectors and how to use them on the dedicated page

API

• DataGrid
• DataGridPro
• DataGridPremium