How to sort strings that contain dates in a reference variable?

[Smith Johnson]

Hello,

I have a variable "Period" in a catalog item which is a reference variable, and displays the following values.

However, considering that these values contain dates, I would like them to be sorted based on their start date in an ascending order. So it should look like this: 10/07/2025 - 24/07/2025, 31/07/2025 - 07/08/2025, 08/09/2025 - 10/09/2025. 

Even if I have an advanced ref qualifier calling a script include which sorts the values based on the start date, in the catalog item it is still sorted alphabetically (refer to the img above). 

How can I disable the alphabetical sorting? Or any other ideas?

Thank you,
Smith.

[PratikshaKate]

@Smith Johnson Did you try giving order by clause in the reference qualifier field? can you share your script here

[Smith Johnson]

Hello, thank you for your reply. 
The thing is that even if i have a simple script like this with hardcoded sys_ids (for testing purposes), again it doesn't work. For example, if I have something like this in my script: returns "sys_idIN<sys_id1>,<sys_id2>,<sys_id3>"

I would expect first to show the record with sys_id1, then the record with sys_id2, and then with sys_id3. However, it doesn't work. It still shows the records alphabetically sorted.

[Community Alums]

Hi @Smith Johnson 
Please use the following variable attribute: ref_ac_order_by=(start_date) to sort the result in ascending order.

Please let me know if you need anything else.

Please mark the answer as correct/helpful if it helps.

Thanks,

Brahmjeet

[Smith Johnson]

Hello, thanks for your reply. However, I don't have a start_date column. If I had, indeed this would be the solution.