row_order: Modify the order of rows within groups

In gt: Easily Create Presentation-Ready Display Tables

Modify the order of rows within groups

Description

We can modify the display order of rows within any row groups in a gt object with row_order(). One or more column names can be provided to define the sorting criteria. By default, rows are sorted in ascending order; use reverse = TRUE to sort in descending order. The ordering is applied lazily during the table build phase, ensuring it works alongside other row-reordering operations.

Usage

row_order(data, ..., groups = NULL, reverse = FALSE)

Arguments

data	The gt table data object ⁠obj:<gt_tbl>⁠ // required This is the gt table object that is commonly created through use of the gt() function.
...	Column expressions for ordering ⁠<column expressions>⁠ // required Column names or expressions describing how to order the rows. Multiple columns can be specified for hierarchical sorting, where the first column is the primary sort key.
groups	Specification of row group IDs ⁠vector<character>|NULL⁠ // default: NULL An optional character vector of row group ID values to target. If NULL (the default), the ordering is applied to rows in all groups. If specified, only rows within the indicated groups will be reordered.
reverse	Reverse the sort order ⁠scalar<logical>⁠ // default: FALSE Should the sort order be reversed (i.e., descending)? By default this is FALSE, which sorts in ascending order.

Value

An object of class gt_tbl.

Examples

Let's use the gtcars dataset to demonstrate row ordering within groups. We'll create a gt table grouped by country and then order rows within each group by the car price in descending order.

gtcars |>
  dplyr::select(mfr, model, ctry_origin, msrp) |>
  dplyr::filter(ctry_origin %in% c("Japan", "United Kingdom")) |>
  dplyr::slice_head(n = 12) |>
  gt(groupname_col = "ctry_origin") |>
  row_order(msrp, reverse = TRUE) |>
  fmt_currency(columns = msrp, decimals = 0) |>
  tab_options(column_labels.hidden = TRUE)

Using towny, we can order rows only within specific groups. Here we order Ontario municipalities by population density in 2021, but only for the "city" and "town" groups (leaving "township" rows in their original order):

towny |>
  dplyr::filter(csd_type %in% c("city", "town", "township")) |>
  dplyr::select(name, csd_type, population_2021, density_2021) |>
  dplyr::slice_head(n = 5, by = csd_type) |>
  gt(groupname_col = "csd_type") |>
  fmt_integer(columns = population_2021) |>
  fmt_number(columns = density_2021, decimals = 1) |>
  row_order(density_2021, groups = c("city", "town"), reverse = TRUE)

Using countrypops, multiple sorting columns can be specified for hierarchical ordering. Here we create a table grouped by year, and sort countries by population within each year:

countrypops |>
  filter(country_code_2 %in% c("BR", "RU", "IN", "CN", "US", "ID")) |>
  filter(year %in% c(2000, 2010, 2020)) |>
  select(year, country_name, population) |>
  gt(groupname_col = "year", row_group_as_column = TRUE) |>
  fmt_integer(columns = population) |>
  row_order(population, reverse = TRUE) |>
  opt_vertical_padding(scale = 0.5)

Function ID

6-4

Function Introduced

In Development

See Also

row_group_order(), which orders the groups themselves.

Other row addition/modification functions: grand_summary_rows(), row_group_order(), rows_add(), summary_columns(), summary_rows()

gt documentation built on Jan. 22, 2026, 9:07 a.m.