plot data with errorbars and sort them with gnuplot

I have a file statistics.dat with measurements I made. It has the format

node Mean     StdDev
1    11862.4  142.871
2    11722.4  141.330 
[...]

I can make a sorted graph with plot '< sort -n -k2 statistics.dat' u 2

Now I want to add error bars to my plot. When I use plot 'statistics.dat' u 1:2:3 w errorbars The sorting is obviously lost since gnuplot uses the x- and y-value as coordinates.

Is there a way to plot a sorted graph with errorbars? Or do I need to sort my data and add new x-values according to the sorded position?

Solution

Reading the x coordinate from column 1 is counter-productive in this case. To use the ordering of the sorted file, use column 0 (line number):

  plot '< sort -n -k2 statistics.dat' u 0:2:3 w errorbars

Depending on the nature of your data and what you are trying to show in the plot, it may be better to simply use the mean value in column 2 as the x coordinate (no extra sorting required):

  plot 'statistics.dat' using 2:2:3 with errorbars

If the original file order has some intrinsic significance you might also want to encode the original order somehow, possibly as x tic labels, possibly as a color range:

  plot 'statistics.dat' using 2:2:3:1 with errorbars lc palette