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Topic: How to sort multiple syntax at the same time/in one line? (Read 1453 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to sort multiple syntax at the same time/in one line?

Usually when I load a lot of songs into a playlist I sort the clicking on the columns track > album> codec. I recently found out the edit>sort>sort by... option and want to use it instead, but I can't seem to use more than one option at a time.

I'm trying %tracknumber%%album%%codec% various ways, but it always sorts just the %tracknumber%. I tried in different ways, like using spaces and a dash between (%tracknumber% - %album% - %codec%) but the result was the same. Even after reading the wiki, I still don't get how this works. If I could sort like this, then I could get rid of the album and codec columns (am already grouping them using simplaylist) and have a cleaner interface.

Re: How to sort multiple syntax at the same time/in one line?

Reply #1
It works for me as expected: All tracks with number 1 are listed first, in alphabetical order by the album, followed by tracks numbered 2, and so on.

You unlikely want to sort by track number and mix multiple albums together. Start the string with Album Artist, and list all release/album-level fields that distinguish near duplicates in your collection, for example:

%album artist% - %date% - %album% - %label% - %catalognumber% - %anything_else% - %__codec% - %discnumber% - %tracknumber% - %title%

Files loaded from media library appear to use the current formatting string selected in the browser. For files loaded from Windows Explorer, you may want to tweak Preferences -> Shell integration -> Sort incoming files by.

Re: How to sort multiple syntax at the same time/in one line?

Reply #2
So... I was doing it inverted  :o

Following your example I tried %codec% - %album% - %discnumber% - %tracknumber% and got exactly what I was looking for, Thank you kind human!

For the explorer shell integration %path_sort% as default seems to be the best option currently, but I did change the default sorting for facets and SimPlaylist.

I also set a keyboard shortcut, so sorting the playlist is very fast.


Re: How to sort multiple syntax at the same time/in one line?

Reply #3
When sorting a multi-column list by clicking on the column headers , you start with the last column you want to sort by. In my case it's:

4. Track #
3. Album Name
2. Year
1. Artist Name

The reason for this is because the list items with the same value in field 3 will maintain their previous order from when they were sorted by field 4, and then the list items with the same value in field 2 will maintain their previous order from when they were sorted by fields 3 and 4, etc., so the sorted fields are "nested" from the inside out.

But when you can specify all of the fields you want to sort by at the beginning of the process, you start with the first field you want to sort by, and the sorting algorithm nests them together from the outside in.