Why is this bibliography not sorted by year?

Question

The following MWE has three entries by the same author from different years. However, when compiled, the bibliography puts the entries in 2004, 2007, 1996 order.

With the option labelalpha (or sort=anyt removed), the behaviour goes away. But I don't understand why these options affect the ordering of these entries. (I thought they only affected the ordering of entries with identical authors and years.)

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@Misc{Costello-1996-Super-reform-press-release,
  author = {Peter Costello},
  year   = {1996},
  date   = {1996-08-20},
  note   = {Press release},
  title  = {Superannuation reform},
  url    = {http://www.budget.gov.au/1996-97/pressreleases/budgetp4.pdf}
}

@Misc{Costello-2007-Income-tax-cuts-press-release,
  author = {Peter Costello},
  title  = {Australians to benefit from 1 July},
  year   = {2007},
  date   = {2007-06-26},
  url    = {http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2007/054.htm&pageID=003&min=phc&Year=&DocType=0},
  note   = {Press release No. 054},
}

@Misc{Costello-2004-callback-interview-PHI-take-up-rates-for-seniors-much-higher,
  author = {Peter Costello},
  title  = {Interview with Liam Bartlett, 720 ABC Perth},
  year   = {2004},
  date   = {2004-09-28},
  url    = {http://www.petercostello.com.au/transcripts/2004/2674-alp-advertisements-the-greens-interest-rates-the-economy-childcare-taxation-private-health-insurance-interview-with-liam-bartlett-abc-radio-720}
}
\end{filecontents}

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend=biber,singletitle,style=authoryear-ibid,ibidtracker=strict, autocite=footnote, maxcitenames=2, maxbibnames=9, uniquelist=false, uniquename=init,sorting=anyt,labelalpha,maxalphanames=1]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\begin{document}
\cite{Costello-1996-Super-reform-press-release,Costello-2007-Income-tax-cuts-press-release,Costello-2004-callback-interview-PHI-take-up-rates-for-seniors-much-higher}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

labelalpha affects the format of the labels - not the sorting. sorting sets the sort order for the bibliography. It determines the sort order completely. — cfr, Nov 11 '16 at 03:41
And you're using an author year system but an alpha sorting system. These are not designed to work together. The anyt sorting system only works with alphabetic type systems. — Alan Munn, Nov 11 '16 at 03:47
Thanks, I was using the answer to this question http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/203185/order-by-first-author-only-not-all-names-than-by-year-or-sort-by-a-partial-ent . I wanted the entries in the bib to appear in the order author-year-abcd. e.g. Costello (2007) Costello (2008a) Costello (2009b) Costello (2010). — Hugh, Nov 11 '16 at 03:49

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 11 '16 at 03:47

From page 45 of the manual:

sorting=...

The sorting order of the bibliography. ...

anyt Sort by alphabetic label, name, year, title.

Your configuration settings for Biblatex don't make much sense because later options are overriding earlier ones in strange combinations. It doesn't make sense to use an authoryear style and then use a completely different kind of label. If you don't want author-year labels, don't ask for them in the first place!

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 13 '16 at 03:45

Selecting sorting=anyt,labelalpha sorts first by labelalpha, which the manual says:

This default label consists of initials drawn from the labelname list plus the last two digits of the publication year.

Since the last two digits are 01, 04, 07, 96, the observed ordering is provided.

Why is this bibliography not sorted by year?

2 Answers2