from top to bottom VS from the top to the bottom

It sounds more natural to me without the two examples of the. You could also sort them in the order received.

I agree with Philip. Articles are usually dropped when opposites are involved:

from north to south
from morning till evening

CB

Thank you, Philip!

I'd also like to ask you the following question if I may:

Is there any "noticeable" difference between, e.g.
(1) Your could also sort them in the order received
and
(2) Your could also sort them out in the order received

I wonder if (2) sounds a little more informal than (1)?

Thanks, Cool Breeze!

I would agree that "from top to bottom" sounds better than "from the top to the bottom," but I have no idea what it means to sort mesages from top to bottom.

MUSCOVITE(1) Your could also sort them in the order receivedand(2) Your could also sort them out in the order receivedI wonder if (2) sounds a little more informal than (1)?

To sort out usually involves getting rid of some of the "stuff" [we sort the bad fruit (out) from the good]. Sorting them means to put them in some kind of order.

MUSCOVITEsort ... out

I tend to use this phrasal verb only in the meaning of sorting out a disordered and confused situation.

Suppose that each of several students believes that he is the one who is supposed to give his report to the class on a given day. Maybe they've misunderstood the teacher's instructions. The teacher finds them arguing about th

khoffI have no idea what it means to sort mesages from top to bottom.

Sorry for this VERY obscure example, knoff!
I just checked with the "author" of the example (meaning , my "co-author" because I only forwarded his query on to the forum :-)
So, his interpretation was as follows:
to sort messages from top to bottom = "put the most recent message