Out of Sort Memory

Last updated on Nov 10, 2022

Potential Causes

This error occurs when the buffer size required for executing a query is larger than the sort_buffer_size value configured for the MySQL server.

Use indexed tables. Indices help in querying the table faster, by reducing the number of rows to be scanned. Creating indices is preferred over increasing the sort_buffer_size as the latter may slow down your queries.
If you have indexed tables but still face the error, increase sort_buffer_size:
1. Navigate to your MySQL Server install directory.
2. Open the config file:
  - my.ini in the case of Windows.
  - my.cnf in the case of Linux.
3. Search for the sort_buffer_size parameter in the file or add it if it does not exist.
4. Set the required buffer size as shown below:
```
  sort_buffer_size = <required_size>
```
  For example, to set the value to 1 gigabyte, use one of the following:
```
    sort_buffer_size = 1073741824

    sort_buffer_size = 1G
```
5. Restart your MySQL server for the changes to take effect.

Refer to the following table for the list of key updates made to this page:

Date	Release	Description of Change
Sep-05-2022	NA	Brought this page under its respective Source documentation folder.
Sep-09-2021	1.71	New document.

Applies To	All MySQL Sources
Error Message Text(s)	Out of sort memory, consider increasing server sort buffer size.