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"ordering" means arranging things in order by some metric.

"sorting" means assigning things into bins (which are usually ordered).

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This is news to me. Source?

That's because it's not true.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ordering

Order - transitive verb - 1. to put in order : arrange - "The books are ordered alphabetically by author."

noun - 4. b(1) the arrangement, organization, or sequence of objects or of events - "alphabetical/chronological/historical order" "listed the items in order of importance"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sorting

Sort - transitive verb - 1. to put in a certain place or rank according to characteristics - "sort the mail" "sorted the winners from the losers" "sorting the data alphabetically"

noun - 5. an instance of sorting - "a numeric sort of a data file"


I don't get how this disagrees with what GGP wrote.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sort

to put a number of things in an order or to separate them into groups: Paper, plastic, and cans are sorted for recycling.

sort something into something I'm going to sort these old books into those to be kept and those to be thrown away.

sort something by something You can use the computer to sort the newspaper articles alphabetically, by date, or by subject.

sort (through) She found the ring while sorting (through) some clothes.


"The children were sorted in to two lines by gender then ordered by height"

You might substitute "sorted by height" but its certainly not a correction. While "ordered into lines" would be an error.


What do you do when you sort your washing?

The sorting office for a postal service.



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