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# Factorio Prototype Docs Version 2.0.7

## Order :: string Example code

The order property is a simple `string`. When the game needs to sort prototypes (of the same type), it looks at their order properties and sorts those alphabetically. A prototype with an order string of `"a"` will be listed before other prototypes with order string `"b"` or `"c"`. The `"-"` or `"[]"` structures that can be found in vanilla order strings do not have any special meaning.

The alphabetical sorting uses lexicographical comparison to determine if a given prototype is shown before or after another. If the order strings are equal then the game falls back to comparing the prototype names to determine order.

## Examples

    {  -- This item will be shown after the below one
      type = "item",
      name = "item-1",
      order = "ad",
    },
    {  -- This item will be shown before the above one
      type = "item",
      name = "item-2",
      order = "ab",
    }

    -- The order of special characters can be identified by looking at a UTF-8 character list.
    -- This is the order some common characters are sorted in:
    "-"
    "0"
    "9"
    "A"
    "Z"
    "["
    "]"
    "a"
    "z"
    -- The following order strings would be ordered thusly then:
    "a"
    "ab"
    "azaaa"  -- "b" is sorted before "z", so "ab" comes before "az", regardless of the letters following it
    "b"
    "b-zzz"
    "b[aaa]" -- "[" is sorted after "-" in UTF-8
    "bb"  -- "b" is sorted after "[" in UTF-8
    ]

Type used in

- AmmoCategory::bonus_gui_order
- AutoplaceSpecification::order
- BonusGuiOrdering::artillery_range
- BonusGuiOrdering::worker_robots
- BonusGuiOrdering::character
- BonusGuiOrdering::follower_robots
- BonusGuiOrdering::research_speed
- BonusGuiOrdering::beacon_distribution
- BonusGuiOrdering::inserter
- BonusGuiOrdering::stack_inserter
- BonusGuiOrdering::bulk_inserter
- BonusGuiOrdering::turret_attack
- BonusGuiOrdering::mining_productivity
- BonusGuiOrdering::train_braking_force
- EntityPrototype::order
- ItemGroup::order_in_recipe
- MapGenPreset::order
- NamedNoiseExpression::order
- PrototypeBase::order
- ShortcutPrototype::order
- TipsAndTricksItem::order
- TipsAndTricksItemCategory::order
- TutorialDefinition::order