The invention relates to a discrete cosine transform measurement base sorting method, which comprises the following steps of: (1) setting M*M pixels of a square image according to expected image resolution initialization parameters, M=2n, and n=1, 2,...; (2) generating a complete DCT measurement base group through inverse discrete cosine transform; (3) selecting a proper real value d, and constructing a function fd(i,j); (4) respectively taking values of i=1, 2,..., M, j=1, 2,..., M, and sequentially obtaining values of M2 fd as a sorting basis; and (5) indexing the PM(i,j) to generate a sequence of the PM(i,j) during measurement, and sorting according to M2 fd(i,j) values from small to large. According to the method, a measurement base does not need to be stored, and rapid imaging can berealized through rapid transformation, associated iteration or a compressed sensing algorithm.