Is there a bug with sorting in_memory tables using arcpy.Sort_management?

Question

Hi all, I'm using Arc Desktop 10.5 - Standard, and I've been running into an issue with a simple script that only exports a domain to an in_memory table, then outputs the domain as another in_memory table sorted on the code field. The problem is, the record order of the "sorted" dataset comes back seemingly randomized whenever I feed arcpy.Sort_management an in_memory input table. For instance, this will return a random order result: import arcpy def notWorking( inputWorkSpace, domain): rawDomain = arcpy.DomainToTable_management(inputWorkSpace, domain, "in_memory/domain", "code", "description") sortedDomain = arcpy.Sort_management( rawDomain, "in_memory/sorted", [["code","ASCENDING"]] ) with arcpy.da.SearchCursor( sortedDomain, "*" ) as cursor: for row in cursor: print("{} {}".format(row[0], row[1]))‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ """ Output on domain originally defined as: C: Charlie E: Echo A: Alpha D: Delta B: Bravo >>> 1 B 2 C 3 A 4 E 5 D """‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Meanwhile, if I store the Sort_management's input in a gdb, it works just fine: import arcpy def works( inputWorkSpace, domain, temporaryWorkSpace): rawDomain = arcpy.DomainToTable_management(inputWorkSpace, domain, temporaryWorkSpace + "\domain", "code", "description") sortedDomain = arcpy.Sort_management( rawDomain, "in_memory/sorted", [["code","ASCENDING"]] ) with arcpy.da.SearchCursor( sortedDomain, "*" ) as cursor: for row in cursor: print("{} {}".format(row[0], row[1])) """ Output on domain originally defined as: C: Charlie E: Echo A: Alpha D: Delta B: Bravo >>> 1 A 2 B 3 C 4 D 5 E """‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ I've attached a sample data set with a domain called "testDomain", but I've experienced this with every source (gdb/sde db) and domain I've tried. While I have a work-around to get what I need done, I was wondering if there was a bug going on or if I'm missing something basic. Thanks in advance for any insight. sample.gdb.zip

DanPatterson_Retired · Answer

Saven, When I loaded it last night, the gdb was empty... don't know if it was a 10.6 thing, or it was actually empty

bixb0012 · Answer

Looking at your code, how do you know the data isn't sorted correctly in-memory and the search cursor is just returning the results in different order?

SavenRoybal1 · Answer

Hi Joshua,

Thanks for the info.

However, the sort tool is supposed to guarantee a sort on the designated field(s).

My question was regarding if there is a bug related to using memory stored datasets with the sort tool.