B = mink (A, K) returns the K earliest elements of the datetime array A in ascending order. If A is a vector, then B is a vector with K elements. If A is a matrix, then mink operates along each column of A and B has K rows. For multidimensional arrays, mink operates along the first non-singleton dimension. Elements are ranked by the instant they name, so an array with a time zone is ranked by absolute time rather than by its wall clock.

B = mink (A, K, dim) operates along the dimension specified by dim.

K must be a nonnegative integer scalar. If K is larger than the number of elements along the operating dimension, then all of them are returned. Infinite datetimes are ranked as ordinary values.

Missing elements (NaT) are not ranked. They are appended after the ranked elements in their original order, and hence they only appear in B when K exceeds the number of non-missing elements along the operating dimension. Unlike sort, mink has no 'MissingPlacement' option, since NaT elements are always placed last. Elements comparing as equal keep their original order.

[B, index] = mink (A, …) also returns an index array containing the indices of the returned elements of A along the operating dimension.

Source Code: datetime