Maps don't have an order for the elements, but we may want to sort the entries in the map. Since Groovy 1.7.2 we can use the sort() method which uses the natural ordering of the keys to sort the entries. Or we can pass a Comparator to the sort() method to define our own sorting algorithm for the keys.
def m = [sort: 'asc', name: 'test', paginate: true, max: 100]
def expectedKeys = ['max', 'name', 'paginate', 'sort']
assert expectedKeys == m.sort()*.key // Since 1.7.2
assert expectedKeys == m.sort( { k1, k2 -> k1 <=> k2 } as Comparator )*.key // Since 1.7.2
// Sorting before Groovy 1.7.2
assert expectedKeys == new TreeMap(m)*.key
assert expectedKeys == m.sort { e1, e2 -> e1.key <=> e2.key }*.key // Sort by closure.
