This Commented CUE demonstrates how to use the built-in function list.IsSorted to test and report if lists are sorted, using either a predefined or custom comparator.

file.cue
package example

import (
	"list"

	// The strings package is only imported for some examples in this
	// guide, and is not required when using list.IsSorted.
	"strings"
)

// For lists of numbers or lists of strings, list.IsSorted can be provided
// with the predefined comparator list.Ascending or list.Descending.
isSorted: list.IsSorted([1, 2.2, 3], list.Ascending)

// See related content, below, for a list.IsSortedStrings example.
stringsDescending: list.IsSorted(["C", "B", "A"], list.Descending)

// Mixed type lists require a custom comparator containing a "less" field that
// encodes a comparison between its "x" and "y" fields, reflecting x<y. See
// list.Sort for details.
structsCustomTrue: list.IsSorted( [{a: 1}, {a: 2}, {a: 3}], {x: {}, y: {}, less: x.a < y.a})
structsCustomFalse: list.IsSorted([{a: 2}, {a: 3}, {a: 1}], {x: {}, y: {}, less: x.a < y.a})

// This comparator tests if lists of strings are in descending order of how
// many "@" characters they contain.
_sortAtSymbolCountDescending: {
	x:    string
	y:    string
	less: strings.Count(x, "@") > strings.Count(y, "@")
}
stringsCountDescendingTrue: list.IsSorted( ["@@", "@", "X"], _sortAtSymbolCountDescending)
stringsCountDescendingFalse: list.IsSorted(["X", "@", "@@"], _sortAtSymbolCountDescending)
TERMINAL
$ cue eval
isSorted:                    true
stringsDescending:           true
structsCustomTrue:           true
structsCustomFalse:          false
stringsCountDescendingTrue:  true
stringsCountDescendingFalse: false