Dictionary is sorted, but when I loop through it unsorts?

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#1

I have this simple code that sorts dictionary by keys:

local function sortTableByKeys(t)
	local tkeys = {}
	for k in pairs(t) do table.insert(tkeys, k) end
	table.sort(tkeys)
	local result = {}
	for _, k in ipairs(tkeys) do result[k] = t[k] end
	print(result) --bac
	for k, v in result do --abc for some reason
		print(k, v)
	end
	print(result) --still bac???
end

sortTableByKeys({[100] = "a", [1] = "b", [300] = "c"})

When I print out the result, it prints bac as expected, but when I try to loop through it, it returns back to its original state (abc). What is interesting, is that if print result afterwards, it is still going to be bac.
Why this happens and how to fix it?

#2

i messed up with pairs, ipairs and next but it won’t do anything different so just do it like how you sorted it.

local function sortTableByKeys(t)
	local tkeys = {}
	for k in pairs(t) do table.insert(tkeys, k) end
	table.sort(tkeys)
	local result = {}
	for _, k in ipairs(tkeys) do result[k] = t[k] end
	print(result) --bac
	for k, v in ipairs(tkeys) do
		print(k, t[v])
	end
	print(result) --still bac
end

sortTableByKeys({[100] = "a", [1] = "b", [300] = "c"})

or optimized:

local function sortTableByKeys(t)
	local tkeys = {}
	for k in pairs(t) do table.insert(tkeys, k) end
	table.sort(tkeys)
	local result = {}
	for _, k in ipairs(tkeys) do result[k] = t[k]; print(_, k, t[k]) end
	print(result) --bac
	print(result) --still bac
end

sortTableByKeys({[100] = "a", [1] = "b", [300] = "c"})
#3

The table itself might be sorted, but the way Roblox prints a table might not. That could be what the issue is since you’re directly printing the table. Try sequentially printing each element in a for loop.

#4

Can you write an example? I don’t understand what do you mean by “Try sequentially printing each element in a for loop”.

#5 
local function sortTableByKeys(t)
	local keys, values = {}, {}
	
	for i, v in pairs(t) do
		table.insert(keys, i)
		table.insert(values, v)
	end
	
	local function sortFunction(a, b)
		return a < b
	end

	table.sort(keys, sortFunction)
	table.sort(values, sortFunction)
	
	for i, v in pairs(keys) do
		print(`{v}: {values[i]}`)
	end
end

sortTableByKeys({[100] = "a", [1] = "b", [300] = "c"})

This works fine.