[[search-aggregations-pipeline-bucket-sort-aggregation]]
=== Bucket Sort Aggregation

A parent pipeline aggregation which sorts the buckets of its parent multi-bucket aggregation.
Zero or more sort fields may be specified together with the corresponding sort order.
Each bucket may be sorted based on its `_key`, `_count` or its sub-aggregations.
In addition, parameters `from` and `size` may be set in order to truncate the result buckets.

NOTE: The `bucket_sort` aggregation, like all pipeline aggregations, is executed after all other non-pipeline aggregations.
This means the sorting only applies to whatever buckets are already returned from the parent aggregation. For example,
if the parent aggregation is `terms` and its `size` is set to `10`, the `bucket_sort` will only sort over those 10
returned term buckets.

==== Syntax

A `bucket_sort` aggregation looks like this in isolation:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
    "bucket_sort": {
        "sort": [
            {"sort_field_1": {"order": "asc"},<1>
            {"sort_field_2": {"order": "desc"},
            "sort_field_3"
        ],
        "from": 1,
        "size": 3
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE
<1> Here, `sort_field_1` is the bucket path to the variable to be used as the primary sort and its order
is ascending.

.`bucket_sort` Parameters
|===
|Parameter Name |Description |Required |Default Value
|`sort` |The list of fields to sort on. See <<search-request-sort,`sort`>> for more details. |Optional |
|`from` |Buckets in positions prior to the set value will be truncated. |Optional | `0`
|`size` |The number of buckets to return. Defaults to all buckets of the parent aggregation. |Optional |
|`gap_policy` |The policy to apply when gaps are found in the data (see <<gap-policy>> for more
 details)|Optional |`skip`
|===

The following snippet returns the buckets corresponding to the 3 months with the highest total sales in descending order:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST /sales/_search
{
    "size": 0,
    "aggs" : {
        "sales_per_month" : {
            "date_histogram" : {
                "field" : "date",
                "interval" : "month"
            },
            "aggs": {
                "total_sales": {
                    "sum": {
                        "field": "price"
                    }
                },
                "sales_bucket_sort": {
                    "bucket_sort": {
                        "sort": [
                          {"total_sales": {"order": "desc"}}<1>
                        ],
                        "size": 3<2>
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[setup:sales]
<1> `sort` is set to use the values of `total_sales` in descending order
<2> `size` is set to `3` meaning only the top 3 months in `total_sales` will be returned

And the following may be the response:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
   "took": 82,
   "timed_out": false,
   "_shards": ...,
   "hits": ...,
   "aggregations": {
      "sales_per_month": {
         "buckets": [
            {
               "key_as_string": "2015/01/01 00:00:00",
               "key": 1420070400000,
               "doc_count": 3,
               "total_sales": {
                   "value": 550.0
               }
            },
            {
               "key_as_string": "2015/03/01 00:00:00",
               "key": 1425168000000,
               "doc_count": 2,
               "total_sales": {
                   "value": 375.0
               },
            },
            {
               "key_as_string": "2015/02/01 00:00:00",
               "key": 1422748800000,
               "doc_count": 2,
               "total_sales": {
                   "value": 60.0
               },
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"took": 82/"took": $body.took/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"_shards": \.\.\./"_shards": $body._shards/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"hits": \.\.\./"hits": $body.hits/]

==== Truncating without sorting

It is also possible to use this aggregation in order to truncate the result buckets
without doing any sorting. To do so, just use the `from` and/or `size` parameters
without specifying `sort`.

The following example simply truncates the result so that only the second bucket is returned:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST /sales/_search
{
    "size": 0,
    "aggs" : {
        "sales_per_month" : {
            "date_histogram" : {
                "field" : "date",
                "interval" : "month"
            },
            "aggs": {
                "bucket_truncate": {
                    "bucket_sort": {
                        "from": 1,
                        "size": 1
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[setup:sales]

Response:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
   "took": 11,
   "timed_out": false,
   "_shards": ...,
   "hits": ...,
   "aggregations": {
      "sales_per_month": {
         "buckets": [
            {
               "key_as_string": "2015/02/01 00:00:00",
               "key": 1422748800000,
               "doc_count": 2
            }
         ]
      }
   }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"took": 11/"took": $body.took/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"_shards": \.\.\./"_shards": $body._shards/]
// TESTRESPONSE[s/"hits": \.\.\./"hits": $body.hits/]