Selecting lowest n values in from attribute table in ModelBuilder?

Question

I have a shapefile with a "Random Number" Column. I'd like to use ModelBuilder to Select and export the lowest N values. I've seen this post about selecting the top 10 records which is pretty similar.

Selecting limited TOP n from specific column in ArcGIS query builder?

But the problem I'm having is this post uses a Query Builder, but I'm not sure how to adapt this for model builder into the 'Select tool'. I'm using ArcGIS desktop

Answer 1

Run the data through the SORT tool, sorting by your random number field, sorting in an ascending sequence, send the output into IN_MEMORY.

For example input data is:

Initial data

The sort tool creates an FID field which is sequential, so all you need to so is select rows where FID <= 10 as shown below:

Sorted, lowest 10

If you need the lowest 20 then select FID <= 20. This can all be easily included into a model.