diff --git a/format/mp4/mp4.go b/format/mp4/mp4.go
index ed06520e6..d58eb64e1 100644
--- a/format/mp4/mp4.go
+++ b/format/mp4/mp4.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/wader/fq/format"
+	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/cmpex"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/decode"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/interp"
 	"golang.org/x/exp/slices"
@@ -224,7 +225,7 @@ func mp4Tracks(d *decode.D, ctx *decodeContext) {
 	for _, t := range ctx.tracks {
 		sortedTracks = append(sortedTracks, t)
 	}
-	slices.SortFunc(sortedTracks, func(a, b *track) bool { return a.id < b.id })
+	slices.SortFunc(sortedTracks, func(a, b *track) int { return cmpex.Compare(a.id, b.id) })
 
 	d.FieldArray("tracks", func(d *decode.D) {
 		for _, t := range sortedTracks {
diff --git a/format/xml/xml.go b/format/xml/xml.go
index e5d1e6000..335963453 100644
--- a/format/xml/xml.go
+++ b/format/xml/xml.go
@@ -356,14 +356,14 @@ func xmlNameFromStr(s string) xml.Name {
 	return xml.Name{Local: s}
 }
 
-func xmlNameSort(a, b xml.Name) bool {
+func xmlNameSort(a, b xml.Name) int {
 	if a.Space != b.Space {
 		if a.Space == "" {
-			return true
+			return 1
 		}
-		return a.Space < b.Space
+		return strings.Compare(a.Space, b.Space)
 	}
-	return a.Local < b.Local
+	return strings.Compare(a.Local, b.Local)
 }
 
 type ToXMLOpts struct {
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ func toXMLFromObject(c any, opts ToXMLOpts) any {
 			sortex.ProxySort(orderNames, n.Nodes, func(a, b string) bool { return a < b })
 		}
 
-		slices.SortFunc(n.Attrs, func(a, b xml.Attr) bool { return xmlNameSort(a.Name, b.Name) })
+		slices.SortFunc(n.Attrs, func(a, b xml.Attr) int { return xmlNameSort(a.Name, b.Name) })
 
 		return n, seq, hasSeq
 	}
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ func toXMLFromArray(c any, opts ToXMLOpts) any {
 			}
 		}
 
-		slices.SortFunc(n.Attrs, func(a, b xml.Attr) bool { return xmlNameSort(a.Name, b.Name) })
+		slices.SortFunc(n.Attrs, func(a, b xml.Attr) int { return xmlNameSort(a.Name, b.Name) })
 
 		for _, c := range children {
 			c, ok := c.([]any)
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 66bc4bbc9..8fed4435f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ require (
 
 	// has no tags
 	// go get -d github.com/gomarkdown/markdown@master && go mod tidy
-	github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20221013030248-663e2500819c
+	github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20230716120725-531d2d74bc12
 
 	// bump: gomod-gopacket /github\.com\/gopacket\/gopacket v(.*)/ https://github.com/gopacket/gopacket.git|^1
 	// bump: gomod-gopacket command go get -d github.com/gopacket/gopacket@v$LATEST && go mod tidy
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ require (
 
 	// has no tags
 	// go get -d golang.org/x/exp@master && go mod tidy
-	golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230131160201-f062dba9d201
+	golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230809094429-853ea248256d
 
 	// bump: gomod-golang-x-net /golang\.org\/x\/net v(.*)/ https://github.com/golang/net.git|^0
 	// bump: gomod-golang-x-net command go get -d golang.org/x/net@v$LATEST && go mod tidy
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index ad13b6d77..5614921e4 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ github.com/creasty/defaults v1.7.0 h1:eNdqZvc5B509z18lD8yc212CAqJNvfT1Jq6L8WowdB
 github.com/creasty/defaults v1.7.0/go.mod h1:iGzKe6pbEHnpMPtfDXZEr0NVxWnPTjb1bbDy08fPzYM=
 github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.4 h1:yAGX7huGHXlcLOEtBnF4w7FQwA26wojNCwOYAEhLjQM=
 github.com/golang/snappy v0.0.4/go.mod h1:/XxbfmMg8lxefKM7IXC3fBNl/7bRcc72aCRzEWrmP2Q=
-github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20221013030248-663e2500819c h1:iyaGYbCmcYK0Ja9a3OUa2Fo+EaN0cbLu0eKpBwPFzc8=
-github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20221013030248-663e2500819c/go.mod h1:JDGcbDT52eL4fju3sZ4TeHGsQwhG9nbDV21aMyhwPoA=
+github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20230716120725-531d2d74bc12 h1:uK3X/2mt4tbSGoHvbLBHUny7CKiuwUip3MArtukol4E=
+github.com/gomarkdown/markdown v0.0.0-20230716120725-531d2d74bc12/go.mod h1:JDGcbDT52eL4fju3sZ4TeHGsQwhG9nbDV21aMyhwPoA=
 github.com/gopacket/gopacket v1.1.1 h1:zbx9F9d6A7sWNkFKrvMBZTfGgxFoY4NgUudFVVHMfcw=
 github.com/gopacket/gopacket v1.1.1/go.mod h1:HavMeONEl7W9036of9LbSWoonqhH7HA1+ZRO+rMIvFs=
 github.com/itchyny/timefmt-go v0.1.5 h1:G0INE2la8S6ru/ZI5JecgyzbbJNs5lG1RcBqa7Jm6GE=
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ github.com/wader/readline v0.0.0-20230307172220-bcb7158e7448 h1:AzpBtmgdXa3uznrb
 github.com/wader/readline v0.0.0-20230307172220-bcb7158e7448/go.mod h1:Zgz8IJWvJoe7NK23CCPpC109XMCqJCpUhpHcnnA4XaM=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.12.0 h1:tFM/ta59kqch6LlvYnPa0yx5a83cL2nHflFhYKvv9Yk=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.12.0/go.mod h1:NF0Gs7EO5K4qLn+Ylc+fih8BSTeIjAP05siRnAh98yw=
-golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230131160201-f062dba9d201 h1:BEABXpNXLEz0WxtA+6CQIz2xkg80e+1zrhWyMcq8VzE=
-golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230131160201-f062dba9d201/go.mod h1:CxIveKay+FTh1D0yPZemJVgC/95VzuuOLq5Qi4xnoYc=
+golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230809094429-853ea248256d h1:wu5bD43Ana/nF1ZmaLr3lW/FQeJU8CcI+Ln7yWHViXE=
+golang.org/x/exp v0.0.0-20230809094429-853ea248256d/go.mod h1:FXUEEKJgO7OQYeo8N01OfiKP8RXMtf6e8aTskBGqWdc=
 golang.org/x/net v0.14.0 h1:BONx9s002vGdD9umnlX1Po8vOZmrgH34qlHcD1MfK14=
 golang.org/x/net v0.14.0/go.mod h1:PpSgVXXLK0OxS0F31C1/tv6XNguvCrnXIDrFMspZIUI=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20220627191245-f75cf1eec38b/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
diff --git a/internal/cmpex/cmpex.go b/internal/cmpex/cmpex.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70e182556
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/cmpex/cmpex.go
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+// Copyright 2023 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+// Package cmp provides types and functions related to comparing
+// ordered values.
+package cmpex
+
+// Ordered is a constraint that permits any ordered type: any type
+// that supports the operators < <= >= >.
+// If future releases of Go add new ordered types,
+// this constraint will be modified to include them.
+//
+// Note that floating-point types may contain NaN ("not-a-number") values.
+// An operator such as == or < will always report false when
+// comparing a NaN value with any other value, NaN or not.
+// See the [Compare] function for a consistent way to compare NaN values.
+type Ordered interface {
+	~int | ~int8 | ~int16 | ~int32 | ~int64 |
+		~uint | ~uint8 | ~uint16 | ~uint32 | ~uint64 | ~uintptr |
+		~float32 | ~float64 |
+		~string
+}
+
+// Less reports whether x is less than y.
+// For floating-point types, a NaN is considered less than any non-NaN,
+// and -0.0 is not less than (is equal to) 0.0.
+func Less[T Ordered](x, y T) bool {
+	return (isNaN(x) && !isNaN(y)) || x < y
+}
+
+// Compare returns
+//
+//	-1 if x is less than y,
+//	 0 if x equals y,
+//	+1 if x is greater than y.
+//
+// For floating-point types, a NaN is considered less than any non-NaN,
+// a NaN is considered equal to a NaN, and -0.0 is equal to 0.0.
+func Compare[T Ordered](x, y T) int {
+	xNaN := isNaN(x)
+	yNaN := isNaN(y)
+	if xNaN && yNaN {
+		return 0
+	}
+	if xNaN || x < y {
+		return -1
+	}
+	if yNaN || x > y {
+		return +1
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
+// isNaN reports whether x is a NaN without requiring the math package.
+// This will always return false if T is not floating-point.
+func isNaN[T Ordered](x T) bool {
+	return x != x
+}
diff --git a/internal/mathex/num.go b/internal/mathex/num.go
index 86858e662..c0d410658 100644
--- a/internal/mathex/num.go
+++ b/internal/mathex/num.go
@@ -7,9 +7,8 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
-	"golang.org/x/exp/constraints"
-
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/ranges"
+	"golang.org/x/exp/constraints"
 )
 
 var BasePrefixMap = map[int]string{
diff --git a/internal/script/script.go b/internal/script/script.go
index e47ad55c1..7b77a527c 100644
--- a/internal/script/script.go
+++ b/internal/script/script.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/cmpex"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/shquote"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/bitio"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/interp"
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ type Case struct {
 func (c *Case) ToActual() string {
 	var partsLineSorted []part
 	partsLineSorted = append(partsLineSorted, c.Parts...)
-	slices.SortFunc(partsLineSorted, func(a, b part) bool { return a.Line() < b.Line() })
+	slices.SortFunc(partsLineSorted, func(a, b part) int { return cmpex.Compare(a.Line(), b.Line()) })
 
 	sb := &strings.Builder{}
 	for _, p := range partsLineSorted {
diff --git a/pkg/decode/value.go b/pkg/decode/value.go
index b4e4ddf59..afe65f94d 100644
--- a/pkg/decode/value.go
+++ b/pkg/decode/value.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/cmpex"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/bitio"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/ranges"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/scalar"
@@ -200,7 +201,9 @@ func (v *Value) postProcess() {
 
 			// sort struct fields and make sure to keep order if range is the same
 			if !vv.IsArray {
-				slices.SortStableFunc(vv.Children, func(a, b *Value) bool { return a.Range.Start < b.Range.Start })
+				slices.SortStableFunc(vv.Children, func(a, b *Value) int {
+					return cmpex.Compare(a.Range.Start, b.Range.Start)
+				})
 			}
 
 			v.Index = -1
diff --git a/pkg/interp/registry.go b/pkg/interp/registry.go
index 6241fcf5b..6d25bdf61 100644
--- a/pkg/interp/registry.go
+++ b/pkg/interp/registry.go
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/fs"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
+	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/cmpex"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/gojqex"
 	"github.com/wader/fq/pkg/decode"
 	"golang.org/x/exp/slices"
@@ -64,11 +66,11 @@ func (r *Registry) Func(funcFn EnvFuncFn) {
 }
 
 func sortFormats(g *decode.Group) {
-	slices.SortFunc(g.Formats, func(a, b *decode.Format) bool {
+	slices.SortFunc(g.Formats, func(a, b *decode.Format) int {
 		if a.ProbeOrder == b.ProbeOrder {
-			return a.Name < b.Name
+			return strings.Compare(a.Name, b.Name)
 		}
-		return a.ProbeOrder < b.ProbeOrder
+		return cmpex.Compare(a.ProbeOrder, b.ProbeOrder)
 	})
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/ranges/ranges.go b/pkg/ranges/ranges.go
index a26513e79..10b1d028a 100644
--- a/pkg/ranges/ranges.go
+++ b/pkg/ranges/ranges.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"golang.org/x/exp/slices"
+
+	"github.com/wader/fq/internal/cmpex"
 )
 
 func max(a, b int64) int64 {
@@ -63,7 +65,7 @@ func Gaps(total Range, ranges []Range) []Range {
 		return []Range{total}
 	}
 
-	slices.SortFunc(ranges, func(a, b Range) bool { return a.Start < b.Start })
+	slices.SortFunc(ranges, func(a, b Range) int { return cmpex.Compare(a.Start, b.Start) })
 
 	// worst case ranges+1 gaps
 	merged := make([]Range, 0, len(ranges)+1)