MATLAB: How to sort the element of one column in a 220*3 matrix in ascending mode, keeping the elements of other columns dependent on the elements of sorted column

Question

i have a 220*3 matrix. the elements of first column in this matrix is related to the elements of other 2 columns. how can i sort the elements of first column in ascending mode, moving the elements of other columns correlated to the elements of first column?

Answer 1

If you want to move the entire row based on how the first column is sorted, then use sortrows with its second optional argument (the rows move along with the first column):

sortrows(X,1)

For example:

>> X = [9,1,1,1;1,2,2,2;5,3,3,3]
X =
     9     1     1     1
     1     2     2     2
     5     3     3     3
>> sortrows(X,1)
ans =
     1     2     2     2
     5     3     3     3
     9     1     1     1

If you want to sort only the first column then just use sort and the appropriate indexing (the other columns do not change):

X(:,1) = sort(X(:,1));