Undefined sorting in composite columns

[ownedbycats]

I wanted to fix some stubborn multi-column sorting (e.g. currently-reading books getting separated depending on whether or not they were on the TBR list) and the best way I figured to do it was to combine #currentlyreading and #onreadinglist:

program:
	if $$#percentread >=# 1 && $$#percentread <=# 99
	then 'Currently Reading'

	elif $#readinglist == 'To Be Read' && $$#percentread ==# 0
	then 'To Be Read'

	else 'zzz'

	fi

But is there a more elegant way to make undefined values sort to the bottom when using A-Z sort?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I wanted to fix some stubborn multi-column sorting (e.g. currently-reading books getting separated depending on whether or not they were on the TBR list) and the best way I figured to do it was to combine #currentlyreading and #onreadinglist:

program:
	if $$#percentread >=# 1 && $$#percentread <=# 99
	then 'Currently Reading'

	elif $#readinglist == 'To Be Read' && $$#percentread ==# 0
	then 'To Be Read'

	else 'zzz'

	fi

But is there a more elegant way to make undefined values sort to the bottom when using A-Z sort?

Composite columns cannot be undefined. They always contain at least the empty string.

In your case I would choose different strings for 'Currently Reading' and 'To Be Read' that sort 'correctly' in a descending sort. For example, 'Currently Reading' ==> 'Now Reading' and 'To Be Read' ==> 'Future'.

[ownedbycats]

That will work.