For example, the different characters in "漢字筆劃, 汉字笔画" (Chinese character strokes) are sorted into "汉(5)字(6)画(8)笔(10)[筆(12)畫(12)]漢(14)", where stroke counts are put in brackets.
(Please note that both 筆 and 畫 are of 12 strokes and their order is not determinable by stroke-count sorting.).
The characters are firstly arranged by their first strokes according to an order of stroke form groups, such as “heng (横, ㇐), shu (竖, ㇑), pie (撇, ㇓), dian (点, ㇔), zhe (折, ㇕)”, or “dian (点), heng (横), shu (竖), pie (撇), zhe (折)”.
Hence the different characters in "汉字笔画, 漢字筆劃" are finally sorted into "汉(5)字(6)画(8)笔(10)筆(12㇓)畫(12㇕)漢(14)", where each character is put at its unique position.
[8] YES is a simplified stroke-based sorting method free of stroke counting and grouping, without comprise in accuracy.
YES sorting has been applied to the indexing of all the characters in Xinhua Zidian and Xiandai Hanyu Cidian.