Help:Sorting

Using sortable tables
When browsing Wikipedia you may encounter tables that have been made sortable. A sortable table is identified by the arrows in one or more of its header cells. Clicking them will cause the table rows to sort based on the selected column, in ascending order first, and subsequently toggling between ascending and descending order.

The actual sorting process will happen on your computer using client-side JavaScript. For this reason it is only possible to use this functionality if you have JavaScript enabled in your web browser. The sorting process is also dependent on your computer and the amount of data. Sorting a very large table on a slow computer may take a long time.

Example
This is an example of a small sortable table.

Tables with complex headers
Tables with more complex headers than before now sort correctly. For example:

Tables with complex datarows
Tables can have cells spanning multiple rows, using. (See Help:rowspan).

The number of rows must be indicated with each use of rowspan. Before any sorting can be done, the rowspan setup must be correct. An incorrect rowspan organisation breaks sorting option, leaving incorrect data.

See examples below.

When sorted all the rows are filled. Tables without rowspan are much easier to maintain by less experienced editors, and by editors who are stopping by only once to edit the table.

Correct rowspan numbers, with sorting in working order:

Note that, after sorting, the rowspanning cells are cut into rows and their content is repeated (the year "2014" in the example).

Incorrect rowspan numbers breaking sorting, and causing mix-ups in rows and columns:

Online table editors and rowspan
There is an easy online wiki table editor here:
 * wikitable.eu5.org

It makes it easy to edit the text and links in individual cells of a table. It is especially easy when there are no rowspans in the body of a table. See the previous section. Without rowspans it is easier to change the underlying framework of a table, and move stuff around. Once the wikitext framework is simpler, the online table editor is simpler too, because you don't have to edit the wikitext as much in order to edit the table.

Vertical headers

 * See: Template:Vert header

This template also works with headers that span rows or columns (using rowspan and colspan). Note that there is no vertical bar  between   and

{|
 * - style=vertical-align:top;


 * }

Sorting buttons in a separate row
To make a table more compact in narrow screens, the sorting buttons can be put in an extra header row below the header cells containing text. The sorting button always ends up in the lowest header cell.

Add a line break  or non-breaking space   in one of the empty header cells. Otherwise the sorting row will be very narrow. Here is the table followed by the wikitext for the header cells.

{|
 * - style=vertical-align:top;

Secondary key
If a column contains a value multiple times then sorting the column preserves the order of the rows within each subset that has the same value in that column (stable sorting). Thus sorting based on a primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. key can be done by sorting the least-significant key first, etc. For example, to sort the table below on the Text column, then the Numbers column, first click on the "Numbers" column heading (the secondary sort key), then the "Text" column heading (the primary sort key).

Another way to sort a table using multiple sort keys is to hold down the shift key while clicking on the column headings for the subsequent sort keys. For example, to sort the table below on the Text column, then the Numbers column, first click on the "Text" column heading (the primary sort key), then hold down the shift key and click on the "Numbers" column heading (the secondary sort key).

Creating sortable tables
Tables can be made sortable via client-side JavaScript by adding  to their top line. These tables need to be properly formatted, with the right amount of cells. Additionally you need to make sure that the headers of your column are properly indicated in the wikicode. For this the  character is used in the table syntax.

If you are using the Visual editor, you can open the properties dialog of a table and select the sortable option.

Simple example
This is the wikisource of the table shown in the first section and shows the typical way to enable table sorting: The  indicates cells that are header cells. In order for a table to be sortable, the first row(s) of a table need to be entirely made up out of these header cells. You can learn more about the basic table syntax by taking the Introduction to tables.

Initial sort order of rows
When users are first presented with a table, the rows will always appear in the same order as in the wikitext. If you want a table to appear sorted by a certain column, you must sort the wikitext itself in that order. This is usually done for the first column. The VisualEditor makes it easy to move individual table columns and rows around. For info about that, and also about putting a table in initial alphabetical order see the relevant section here.

Restrictions

 * Tables can only click-to-sort vertically downwards (clicking on a topmost-column-name will cause the rows of the table to re-order themselves in their up-and-down positions). It is not possible to click-to-sort horizontally across (there is no way to click on a leftmost-row-cell so as to cause the columns of the table to re-order themselves in their left-to-right positions).

Making a column unsortable
If you want a specific column not to be sortable, specify  in the attributes of its header cell.

Wiki markup

What it looks like in your browser

Forcing a column to have a particular data type
The  attribute can be added inside the header of a column to ensure that the cells underneath are all treated as a specified type of data.

The following (case-insensitive) values are valid for :
 * for website addresses
 * for numeric internet protocol addresses
 * for language specific standard date format.
 * for dates in the ISO YYYY-MM-DD format. See: ISO date.
 * for dates in the US format (with the month before the day)
 * for language specific standard date format.
 * for dates in the ISO YYYY-MM-DD format. See: ISO date.
 * for dates in the US format (with the month before the day)

For example:

Without  in the header, the tablesorter gets confused by the numeric titles in the first few rows into treating the entire column as numeric. This results in it wrongly sorting the non-numeric titles as zero regardless of the alphabetical ordering of their text.

Note that if a column without declared sort-type contains only numeric values, but with a reference  immediately after the last digit of at least one number, this may cause the column to be sorted as text (alphanumeric) by default,   This can be avoided by declaring the sort type:  instead of.

Default data type of a column
If you do not specify a, the sort modes (the data types, which, in addition to the choice "ascending" or "descending", determine the sorting order) are as follows:
 * date (see also below)
 * criterion: the first non-blank element is of the form "DD-MM-YYYY", "DD-MM-YY", or "DD mmm YYYY"
 * order: numeric value of YYYYMMDD; The string DDsMMsYYYY of length 10 (if characters positioned at s are equal together and are either '/' or '-' separator) is positioned as YYYYMMDD, the string DDsMMsYY of length 8 (if characters positioned at s are equal together and are either '/' or '-' separator) as 19YYMMDD if YY >= 50 and 20YYMMDD otherwise, and the string "DD mmm YYYY" with mmm an (abbreviated) month name.
 * isoDate (ISO 8601)
 * criterion: format "±YYYY-MM-DD", with 1-4 digits for year "YYYY" from -9999 to 9999, month only with digits, format "±YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sss±TH:TM" with time hour "hh", minutes "mm", seconds "ss.sss", and time zone offset "TH:TM, right values are optional.
 * order: numeric, with time in milliseconds after 01 January, 1970 UTC.
 * "currency" (this mode can be useful for other data also)
 * criterion: the first non-blank element starts with $, £, €, or ¥
 * order: numeric, ignoring these symbols and all ordinary letters and commas, but not spaces; note that scientific notation cannot be used, as e and E are removed
 * numeric
 * criterion: the first non-blank element consists of just digits, points, commas, spaces, "+", "-", possibly followed by "e" or "E" and a string consisting of "+", "-", digits
 * order: after removing the commas and spaces, if any, if the string starts with a number the order is numeric according to the first number in the string (parseFloat is applied); it is regarded as zero if it is empty; in other cases (parseFloat returns NaN), the element is positioned like -∞.
 * proposed internationalisation: in German etc., treat comma as a decimal point


 * string
 * criterion: all other cases; to avoid one of the other modes, start e.g. with a hidden "&"; this can be done conveniently with, which also allows more hidden text, as a sort key; while the similar templates above are called at the end of a table element, call this one at the start
 * order: after conversion of capitals to lowercase the order is ASCII - partial list showing the order: !"#$%&'*+,-./09:;<=>?@[\]^_'az{|}~é— (see also below; a blank space comes before every other character; a non-breaking space code  counts as a space; two adjacent ordinary blank spaces count as one; for multiple blank spaces one can use   or alternate   and ordinary blank spaces)

If more than one possible type matches, the first type in the above order is chosen. For example, "24-12-2007" matches as a date, so is not treated as a number. Formatting and markup tags are ignored when determining the matching type.

The sort mode is determined by the first 5 non-blank rows below the header after loading the page. This can also change after deleting a row, or adding a column. Therefore it is wise to make sure that every element matches the criterion for the required data type. Using a row template this can be done very conveniently.

The method of making sure the sort mode of each column is as desired, is specify a, see up.

Specifying a sort key for a cell
Sometimes the value of a cell is not correctly parsed or one wants to sort the row in a special way. (e.g. a cell containing 'John Doe' should actually be sorted as 'Doe' and not as 'John'). This can be easily achieved by setting the  attribute. It is especially handy to sort military ranks in rank-seniority order.

Wiki markup

This gives:

See also mw:Help:Sorting.

If you have a list where all the entries start with quotes ("), and you want to set a sort key for one of the entries, then you will need to use the HTML name or number for quotes at the beginning of that sort key. See here too. Lists of song titles for example sometimes have each song title in quotes. So to sort by a particular word in a song title use one of these:

Keeping some rows together
can be used to keep certain rows together. The specified order of these rows is preserved. An example is to keep "South Holland" immediately after "Netherlands", whatever the sort order or column:

If you have rows that contain colspans, this might become a little difficult. You can also use the  on a row; it will then always be below the row just above it in the table source, wherever that row may be sorted in the table.

Numerical sorting problems
Text breaks default numerical sorting if it is before a number. Text after a number can sometimes break default numerical sorting. See more info below.

References  after a number no longer break default numerical sorting.

The N/A template in any cell in a numerical column breaks numerical sorting of that column. This problem with N/A can be fixed by putting  in the column header,

Even when using  in the column header, text in front of a number in any cell breaks numerical sorting. Text after a number is not a problem if the sort order of a column is specified by using.

A dash, of any kind, in a blank cell breaks numerical sorting of a column. A dash is only allowed in front of a number. Dashes are allowed anywhere in cells if  is used in the column header.

A dash after a number breaks numerical sorting of a column. Therefore a range (30-40) breaks numerical sorting of a column. Click the sorting button in the first table to the right, and see that sorting does not work. One solution is to use 2 columns for a range. See and experiment with preview views of the table in 15 October 2011 global protests. Using two columns there allows one to sort by either the minimum estimated crowd sizes, or by the maximum estimated crowd sizes.

Another option is to use one column and add  in the column header. Click the sorting button in the table to the far right. For more info see meta:Help:Sorting and the section about forcing the sort mode for a column.

A plus sign (+) in front of a number does not break numerical sorting of a column. A plus sign in an otherwise empty cell can break numerical sorting of a column if the first non-empty cell going down a column consists of just a plus sign. A plus sign after a number can break numerical sorting if the first non-empty cell going down a column consists of a number followed by a plus sign. See and experiment with preview views of the table in 15 October 2011 global protests.

"c." (circa, indicates "approximately") is often found in columns of numbers. It needs to be put after the number in order for numerical sorting to work. Alternatively, it can be moved to a different column. The addition of  to the column header does not allow c. to be put in front of the number.

Leading zeroes are not necessary for numerical sorting of a column. If it seems that way, then that means the column is being sorted alphabetically. Check for cells with anything other than numbers, and correct those cells according to the above rules.

Year only
See List of countries by income equality. Year sorting of a column works as long as no text is the first thing in a cell in the column. The year must be first. Adding  to the column header does not change this.

Text is OK after a year in a cell. "FY" (fiscal year), for example, should go after the year. References after the year are OK. Put "c." after the year, or use "est." after the year instead.

A dash, of any kind, in a blank cell breaks year sorting of a column. Dashes after the year are OK.

Unlike for numerical sorting the N/A template in any cell in a year column does not break year sorting of that column.

If there are problems with year sorting check for any cells in the column with text or a dash (of any kind) as the first thing in a cell. Remove that text or dash, and the column should sort correctly.

Year and month
Date sorting does not work for columns with only the year before the month (no day). Adding  or   to the column header does not help. Click each column header a couple times in the tables below to see. Note the column headed  may sort correctly in some browsers, but it is not reliable. Year and month in numerical form (YYYY-MM) works with  (see relevant section farther down).

Month and year
Date sorting does not work for columns with only the month before the year (no day). Adding   to the column header does not help.

Month, day, and year
Sorting works correctly in all the tables below. Years before 100 (for example, year 99) break sorting. If a number for a day is missing, sorting is broken.

Day, month, and year
Sorting works correctly in all cases below. Years before 100 break sorting. For example; year 99. If a number for a day is missing, sorting is broken.

Before year 100. Any date format

 * Note: See related section that follows this one.

Sorting can be done via the hidden   using the ISO date. Combined with  

Note: The sorting wikitext is the same for the 2 tables below. Any date format can be shown to the readers.

{| {|
 * - style=vertical-align:top;
 * - style=vertical-align:top;


 * }

The table below uses the same isoDate values for   as the above table. But multiple formats are used for showing the dates to the reader.

{|
 * - style=vertical-align:top;


 * }

Year, month, day. Using numbers. ISO date

 * For examples; see tables in Android One.

See: ISO date. "±YYYY-MM-DD", with 1 to 4 digits for year "YYYY" from -9999 to 9999. Year by itself is fine. If month is used, then it must use two digits. Sorting is broken if the month uses a single digit without the preceding zero. One digit is fine for the day. Some stuff before and after the date is allowed. Such as "c." (for circa) before the date, and references after the date. Remember to leave a space in the wikitext before years that are a negative number.

Sorting works best with   added to the column header. BC or BCE can be added then too. Test other additions before and after the date.

Dts template. Day and month. Many other date formats
These example tables use the Dts template. They all sort correctly. See the wikitext ("edit source"). The wikitext for the first entry in each table is shown in the table header.

Note: None of the table columns use the  modifier. Using  can sometimes break sorting.

The Dts template can be used with many date formats. See Template:Dts for many more options.

Examples of datatype auto detection
The script sees what the cells contains at the first 5 data rows. The sorting mode becomes numeric if the first cells contains a number only (comma and full-stop used in number formatting are accepted as number). The sorting order will work properly even though other cells contains text after numbers (e.g. "80 approx"). Empty cell is treated as "zero" when sorting numerically.

The example with "a" gives alphabetic sorting; that with "e" ditto, the data are not mistaken for numbers in scientific format.

The first example demonstrates that text is positioned at zero, and that e.g. e3 for 1000 is not allowed; use 1e3 instead. It also shows that "-" should be used, not "−".

The second example shows that expressions are not sorted according to their evaluated value, but according to the first number.

The third example shows that a percentage is accepted for numeric sorting mode, but ignored in the actual sorting, so if a column contains percentages, all numbers have to be written as a percentage.

The fourth example shows again that "c. 12" sorts at 0, as opposed to 12 with some text after it, which sorts at 12. In case such an element arrives at the top of a column, it causes alphabetic sorting mode.

Background colors in sortable headers
A background color in a header may cause that column to lose its sorting button – see bug 31755. Example:

causes the problem.

Use  to make the color show. Correct method:

Produces this sortable table:

Excluding rows from sorting
Sometimes it is helpful to exclude the last row of a table from the sorting process. There are two methods to achieve this.

Header as a footer
You want a repeat of the header at the bottom. You do this by using the ! (Exclamation mark) syntax for all cells in the last row of the table. This will be recognized as a footer and the row will not be part of the sorting.

This applies to all rows at the end of the table that are consecutive and fully made up out of header cells.

Plain footer
This can be achieved using  on the desired table row (line starting with  ). It is possible to keep multiple lines fixed at the bottom, as long as the lines are consecutive.

Padding
Sometimes entries are padded on the left for alignment purposes. This can adversely affect how they are sorted.

Non-breaking spaces
The effect of left-padding with non-breaking space codes  which render as blank spaces, depends on the browser: in IE they are (unlike actual blank spaces) counted for sorting as leading blank spaces, so in a list of numbers with text (for which the alphabetic sorting mode applies) they could be used to equalize the number of characters before the explicit or implicit decimal separator. However, in Firefox they are ignored for the purpose of sorting.

See also Talk:List of U.S. states and territories by population/Archive 1.

Padding with zeros
Example:
 * 000000

Formatnum can be combined with padleft:

Integer:

299,792,458 gives:
 * 299,792,458

Real:

0.000000 gives:
 * 0.000000

Dates
The simplest way to format sortable dates in a table is to use the dts template. In accordance with the manual of style, the template would be invoked using the following format:

Please see the documentation of the template dts for full details on how to use this.

Issues
Date sorting works by formatting dates so they can be sorted numerically. For example:

or

...for 21 July 2001. The "display:none" style can be used to hide a sortable numeric date before the displayed date. dts does this automatically, and is recommended in most cases.

You can use 2012-07-07 etc. to get sortable dates. Example: For years BC,  can be used for -0062-09-23 (62 BC): Simply subtract the year BC from 10,000.
 * See also: 8226

Numeric sort for BC/AD years
In certain circumstances the following sort technique may be used to provide a simple intuitive numeric sort for BC/AD years which are often surrounded by qualifying text. The sort in the BC/AD column (the fourth column in the example) is forced to be numeric (just as the other columns are forced to be alphabetic) by the inclusion of the first two hidden rows. These rows contain extreme values which will mean that these rows will ALWAYS be sorted to the top and bottom of the table, regardless of which column is sorted. As the sort mechanism determines the sort type to be used by examining the first cell in the column to be sorted the hidden rows ensure that a purely numeric value is always found in the first or last cell.

The mechanisms used here are explained in the current article at: and.

With numeric sorting guaranteed all that is needed is to precede the BC/AD text with a positive or negative year number in a hidden sort key which suitably represents the cell text. As this number will be the first thing the sort code sees it will sort it as a number, in the order, or the opposite. Once the sort type is fixed at the start of a sort the presence of alphabetic values in subsequent rows is ignored. The sort is done numerically on the first text in each row. The detail of the exclamation mark after the positive/negative year number in the hidden sort key is to clearly mark an end to the number which the sort mechanism must consider. In certain circumstance, if the exclamation mark is not present, and the hidden sort key is immediately followed by another number, that number may be treated as a continuation of the hidden sort key number, to produce an incorrect sort.

The tables in the article: List of cities by time of continuous habitation have been modified to used this sort. The following example is modified (maintaining some defects in the content which will need resolving in the original!) from one of those tables:

Controlling sorting and display
Text undesired for sorting but needed for display:
 * In numeric sorting mode, text breaks numerical sorting whether the text is before or after the number. Sorting then becomes alphanumeric. Empty cell is treated as "zero" when sorting numerically.
 * In date sorting mode, this text needs to be put in a separate column; in the case of a cell containing a range of dates or numbers (e.g. from .. to ..), text in surplus of what is required for sorting is put in the extra column. If the first part of the text is used for sorting, then the extra column needs to be the following one; conversely, if the last part of the text is used for sorting, then the extra column needs to be the previous one; depending on the table format, this dividing of an item over two cells may look ugly.
 * In alphabetic sorting, any footnotes etc. do not require a separate column; they can simply be put at the end of the element.

Text undesired for display but needed for sorting:
 * can be put as hidden text in the column to be sorted

Combining the two, we can have displayed text independent of text used for sorting, by fully hiding the latter, and fully putting the former in a separate column (in date sorting mode and numeric sorting mode) or in the same column after the hidden text (in alphabetic sorting). Fully putting the displayed text in a separate column may look ugly if it is not done consistently for a whole column, but only for elements that require this (e.g. if most entries in a column are single numbers, but some are ranges).

Static column
A static column, e.g. with row numbers, can be obtained with two side-by-side tables with for each row the same height set in both tables:

The style can be adjusted to make it appear as a single table. If for some row the height of that row is too small for the text in a cell on one of the sides, the browser increases it, and there is no longer a match.

A static column can also be created by enclosing the sortable table with the templates static column begin and end. See the documentation of static column begin for details.

Maintaining tables sorted by rank
Tables in rank order may become difficult to maintain as the list is updated. People keep adding more rows to the table, but fail to renumber all the ranks each time a new one is added.

With Visual Editor it is much easier now. See Help:Table and the section at the end on the Visual Editor. It is easy to add or remove a column of rank numbers. See the section on copying a column from one table to another.

Copy a rank column from another table, or an older version of the same table. For example; copy from here. It is a rank column from 1 to 250.

Click on the first cell (with number 1) of the rank column. Then shift-click on the highest number you need. Click "copy" from the edit menu of your browser. Then click on the first cell of the blank column that needs rank numbers. Click "paste" from the edit menu of your browser.

Putting a table in initial alphabetical order

 * Note: For more info see the Visual Editor sections at the end of Help:Table.

There are fast and slow ways to do this. Scroll down for fast ways. Unfortunately, the Visual Editor does not have a fast way to quickly alphabetize a table. You can manually move rows around one at a time. Click on a cell in a row. Then click on the arrow that shows up at the left of the row. Then click on "move above" or "move below" as needed.

If this is buggy or is not working, the rows can be moved around in the wikitext by cutting and pasting rows in the wikitext.

A fast way is to launch free LibreOffice Calc, or another spreadsheet program. See List of spreadsheet software. Go to the Wikipedia page or user sandbox with the table. Select and copy the table right off the page (do not go into the wikitext or the HTML). Paste it into a new Calc page.

In Calc click on any cell in the column you want sorted, and then click on one of the sort options in the data menu at the top of the Calc window. Click on "ascending" or "descending" to sort alphabetically or numerically depending on the column contents. Click on "sort" for more options. Then convert the Calc table back to wikitext by pasting it into tab2wiki.

Or copy directly from the spreadsheet, and then paste directly into a new Visual Editor table where the first header cell has been selected. It may take up to a minute. You can copy the whole table or selected columns. For more info see Commons:Convert tables and charts to wiki code or image files.

There is another way to alphabetize a table. One can use NoteTab Light (freeware version of NoteTab). It installs quickly and easily. But the wikitext must be in compressed table format. All the wikitext for a row must be on one line. That means the cells in that row are separated by double bars.

To alphabetize the list by the first column paste the table wikitext into a new NoteTab Light page. Select the rows you want to alphabetize. Then click on the "modify" menu, then "lines", then "sort", and then "ascending". That will put "A" at the top and "Z" at the bottom.

Then put back  (wikitext for row) between each line. Do that via find-and-replace by replacing  with


 * is the underlying text editor code for line breaks in NoteTab.
 * is the wikitext for a table row.

If there are blank lines between the entries replace  with

Copy the wikitext and paste it back into the article. Save the page.

Initial alphabetical sort versus initial sort by rank order
It is a good idea to keep lists and tables in some kind of initial non-random sort order. Numbered rank order can be difficult to maintain as the list is updated, and as the rankings change. For example; in a nation list, updating the info for a single nation may require changing the rank numbers of many nations.

This discourages people from updating the list. If they do update the list, they may not bother to update the rank order. So the list becomes more and more incorrect over time. See lists of country data. See Category:Lists of countries by per capita values and Category:Lists of countries.

It can be even easier maintenance and updating in some cases if the list is initially in alphabetical order, especially if the sources and references are also in alphabetical order. Readers can be instructed to use the sort button to order a number column.

Removing a rank column (1,2,3) from a table
You can remove the rank column cells quickly. It is much easier now with the table editor in the VisualEditor. Click on the header in the column you want to delete. An arrow will show up at the top of the column. Click the arrow, and then "delete column".

Auto-ranking or adding a row numbering column (1,2,3) next to a table
There are Phabricator threads asking for a way to easily add static row numbers to tables. See T42618. It supersedes T42634. If a solution is implemented in Wikipedia it will be possible to use wide tables and wide note columns in tables with row numbers. Currently, adding a separate column of row numbers requires some complicated wikitext, and does not work with wide tables. Note the width of the tables here: Category:Article with table with fixed row numbers

An integrated static row number column would be very helpful in a table initially sorted by region and subregion such as this wider version of List of countries by intentional homicide rate: Versus this narrower version.

See this example: List of countries by incarceration rate. Its editing is explained in detail at Commons:Convert tables and charts to wiki code or image files (section about list of countries by incarceration rate). See also: List of countries by total health expenditure per capita.

Flag icons are not currently a problem in country lists. It depends on the current state of the MediaWiki software, and the current state of the flag templates. Sometimes they mess up row alignment more and more as the text size used is smaller and smaller. The row alignment is more and more messed up the farther down one scrolls down the table. At the time this is written the flag icons are formatted in such a way that they are not causing a problem.

The row number column never has to be updated, except to add more numbers at the end if necessary. For example; when adding more nations. This allows any initial sort order for the table. It allows any column to be sorted later via the sort button, and still see the same row numbering.

In the examples below click the sort button above a column in the main table to the right of the row number column. Note that the row number column on the left does not change. It sorts independently. This allows one to see rank order for any column. The row number column does not have to sort at all. Or it can be sorted independently for ascending and descending row numbering or ranking. It depends on the table needs and setup. A note can be added above the table; something like this: Or: "The row number column is static and does not sort." Add   to the column head.

A separate row number column only works when there is only one line per row in the table. So wide tables, or tables with a notes column are problematic. There could be 2 lines in some rows, depending on screen width, and the length of notes. Rows will wrap from being one line to two lines. Decrease your browser width to see. For example; see notes column here: List of countries and dependencies by area. Wide tables can be narrowed in some cases by using breaks in the header titles:  . Also, the sorting icons can be put in a separate header row.

Tables with references within the table are not currently a problem. Reference numbers are in superscript, and this may or may not increase the line height of the row. It depends on the current state of the MediaWiki software, and whether it increases line height for rows with references. So a separate row number column may not work, especially when multiple cells in a column have references. The more rows with references, the more the misalignment as one goes down the table. One solution is to point to a notes section below the table. See: List of countries by intentional homicide rate. The notes are in a notes section below the table.

Italics within the table are not currently a problem. It depends on the current state of the MediaWiki software, and whether it changes the line height for rows with italics.

Example tables
Here is how to put a main table adjacent to a separate row number table.

The two tables are combined by wrapping them within a 3rd table that does not have a border. Look at the wikitext to understand. See examples below. It is not necessary to put text in the header cell above the number column. You can leave it blank, but sortable. Add   so it is not too narrow. You can also choose to leave the number column unsortable. Specify   in the attributes of its header cell. For more info see the section higher up called Making a column unsortable.

{|
 * - style=vertical-align:top;


 * }

Align the multiple headers across the tables below by adding   (multiple times if necessary) to the header cells of the row-number column. See the wikitext for the table below. See also: List of U.S. states by incarceration and correctional supervision rate and List of countries by intentional homicide rate. Those tables have several header rows. {|

You can remove the space between the 2 tables by adding   to the top line of the wikitext of the row number table. It may not be a good idea to do this though in many cases. Fixed row numbering is more intuitive when there is a space between tables. Otherwise people may not understand why the numbers are not sorting along with the rest of the table.


 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-right: -8px;"

{|


 * }

With wider tables the rows only line up between the table and the row-number column if all the rows below the headers only use one line each. So it is a good idea to avoid tables that are too wide. For that reason avoid note columns, too. Narrow your browser window to see the problem with wider tables such as the one below. Another problem is that the row-number column can drop down out of sight when the tables are viewed on a narrow screen, or when the browser width is narrowed.

Adding   will keep the tops aligned between the 2 tables at all browser widths. The row-number column will not drop down.

For the above table here is the wikitext at the top of the wrapping table, followed by the header wikitext for the row-number column: {| {| class="wikitable sortable" ! ! !
 * - style=vertical-align:top;
 * 1
 * 1

Adding row numbers with Template:Row numbers
See Template:Row numbers for a very fast way to add a column of row numbers to a table. This method is not effected by screen width as with the method used in the previous section. The row numbers stay aligned with the table rows. The row numbers are not fixed though as with the previous method.

See this page with a column of 300 rows containing _row_count. The column can be copied with Visual Editor into any table. In order to quickly set up any table to use Template:Row numbers. See this old version of List of countries by wealth per adult. It uses the template to add the row numbers.

See Help:Table and its section at the end on the Visual Editor. It explains how to copy a column from one page to a table on another page.

Remove the template code at the beginning of the table in order to edit the table in Visual Editor. Otherwise, use the wikitext editor. Leave a note on the talk page, and add a hidden note above the table. See wikitext and note of the table below.

Sorting the wikitext of a table
One difficult way to sort the wikitext itself by a certain column is to use the following 'trick'. You can make an auxiliary sortable table containing the wikitext for the original table, and sort it. You can then replace the original wikitext by this sorted wikitext.

Unfortunately this method is anything but quick and easy. The heavy modifications needed make it unsuitable for larger tables, while small tables generally are sorted faster by hand.

Example:

Original table:

Auxiliary table: Now you can sort the above table, and copy the rendered text to the edit box. After deleting the "header" line, this renders as a new defaultly sorted table:

Alphabetic sorting order
Sort the following table to see an example of the alphabetic sort order. Note that sorting is case-insensitive: the two-character entries such as A1 demonstrate that A and a are at the same position.

Sorting with increase/decrease/steady templates
To enable sorting of cells with Template:Increase, Template:Decrease or Template:Steady, add a sort key, e.g. 2, 1 or. To fix an existing table, use Search and replace (right icon in the Advanced toolbar) with Treat search string as a regular expression selected to do the following replacements:
 * {| class="wikitable"

!Search for!!Replace with
 * (\{\{increase)(\}\})([0-9]*)||$1 | $3$2$3
 * (\{\{decrease)(\}\})([0-9]*)||$1 | -$3$2$3
 * (\{\{steady)(\}\})||$1 | 0$2
 * }
 * (\{\{steady)(\}\})||$1 | 0$2
 * }
 * }