Content-type: text/html Manpage of SORT

SORT

Section: FSF (1)
Updated: April 2001
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

sort - sort lines of text files  

SYNOPSIS

sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...  

DESCRIPTION

Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.

Ordering options:

-b, --ignore-leading-blanks ignore leading blanks
-d, --dictionary-order
consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters
-f, --ignore-case
fold lower case to upper case characters
-g, --general-numeric-sort
compare according to general numerical value
-i, --ignore-nonprinting
consider only printable characters
-M, --month-sort
compare (unknown) < `JAN' < ... < `DEC'
-n, --numeric-sort
compare according to string numerical value
-r, --reverse
reverse the result of comparisons

Other options:

-c, --check
check whether input is sorted; do not sort
-k, --key=POS1[,POS2]
start a key at POS1, end it at POS 2 (origin 1)
-m, --merge
merge already sorted files; do not sort
-o, --output=FILE
write result to FILE instead of standard output
-s, --stable
stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison
-S, --buffer-size=SIZE
use SIZE for main memory buffer
-t, --field-separator=SEP use SEP instead of non- to whitespace transition
-T, --temporary-directory=DIR
use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp multiple options specify multiple directories
-u, --unique
with -c: check for strict ordering otherwise: output only the first of an equal run
-z, --zero-terminated
end lines with 0 byte, not newline
+POS1 [-POS2]
start a key at POS1, end it before POS2 (origin 0) Warning: this option is obsolescent
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit

POS is F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position in the field, both counted from one with -k, from zero with the obsolescent form. OPTS is made up of one or more single-letter ordering options, which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key.

SIZE may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: % 1% of memory, b 1, k 1024 (default), and so on for M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

*** WARNING *** The locale specified by the environment affects sort order. Set LC_ALL=C to get the traditional sort order that uses native byte values.  

AUTHOR

Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-textutils@gnu.org>.  

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  

SEE ALSO

The full documentation for sort is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and sort programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info sort

should give you access to the complete manual.

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO
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Time: 13:06:46 GMT, January 16, 2002