# Custom "sort by" for a field column instead of alphanumeric sorting
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 12, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948 "2023-05-12T17:34:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DJNeidermeyer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJNeidermeyer)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/1 "2023-05-12T17:34:45Z")
Throwing myself to wolves here probably but I'm not experienced enough to do it myself, but I think it's pretty simple and analyzing your advice will help me figure out problems in the future.
I want to sort my CD ripper confidence field by whether the value contains "Secure: no", "Secure: yes", or contains neither. This is instead of sorting by the default alphanumeric characters at the beginning. I can visualize the process but don't know the syntax.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@LyricsLover](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/LyricsLover)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/2 "2023-05-12T18:13:07Z")
Please show us a [screenshot](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/hints-for-asking-support-requests/56190#use-screenshots-to-exemplify-the-issue-2) from Alt + T on one of your loaded tracks to see which "CD ripper confidence" tag you can [add to your columns](https://docs.mp3tag.de/customization/file-list/#adding-and-removing-columns) in the file list view.
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### Author:  [@DJNeidermeyer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJNeidermeyer)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/3 "2023-05-12T18:39:58Z")
The column is already added, the issue is sorting the values in the column by some text that is inside the values. I'll post a screenshot example when I get home from work.
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### Author:  [@DJNeidermeyer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJNeidermeyer)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/4 "2023-05-12T23:11:17Z")
So the column is already added to extended tags, and the fields are as below
I'm thinking there is some kind of syntax I can use where I put the question marks that will sort the entries by "Secure: No" , "Secure: Yes", and by not having either.
I want to put special characters in filenames of insecure CD rips.
(These are fields created by dbPoweramp, by the way).
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### Author:  [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2023, 6:36am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/5 "2023-05-13T06:36:55Z")
> [@DJNeidermeyer](#):
>
> I want to put special characters in filenames of insecure CD rips.
Wouldn't it then be much easier to filter for the files?
Anyway: you can use scripting functions for "sort by", e.g.
`$regexp(%accurateripresult%,'.*Secure: (.*?)\s+.*',$1)`
This expression should return Yes or No or the whole string and sort accordingly.
Test the string first in Convert\>Tag-Tag
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### Author:  [@DJNeidermeyer](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/DJNeidermeyer)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/6 "2023-05-16T21:36:24Z")
To be honest, I had forgotten the Filter option, and using quotes it got me all my Secure: No grouped together so I could run my Action.
But thanks for the reply as it does give me something from which to learn!
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/custom-sort-by-for-a-field-column-instead-of-alphanumeric-sorting/60948/7 "2023-06-15T21:37:20Z")
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