32v 1m sort

SORT(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual SORT(1)

NAME

    sort - sort or merge files

SYNOPSIS

    sort [ -mubdfinrt_________x ] [ +_p_o_s_1  [ -_p_o_s_2 ] ] ...  [ -o name ] [
    -T directory ] [ name ] ...

DESCRIPTION

    _S_o_r_t sorts lines of all the named files together and writes
    the result on the standard output.  The name `-' means the
    standard input.  If no input files are named, the standard
    input is sorted.

    The default sort key is an entire line.  Default ordering is
    lexicographic by bytes in machine collating sequence.  The
    ordering is affected globally by the following options, one
    or more of which may appear.

    b    Ignore leading blanks (spaces and tabs) in field com-
         parisons.

    d    `Dictionary' order: only letters, digits and blanks are
         significant in comparisons.

    f    Fold upper case letters onto lower case.

    i    Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 in
         nonnumeric comparisons.

    n    An initial numeric string, consisting of optional
         blanks, optional minus sign, and zero or more digits
         with optional decimal point, is sorted by arithmetic
         value.  Option n implies option b.

    r    Reverse the sense of comparisons.

    t_x   `Tab character' separating fields is _x.

    The notation +_p_o_s_1 -_p_o_s_2 restricts a sort key to a field
    beginning at _p_o_s_1 and ending just before _p_o_s_2.  _P_o_s_1 and
    _p_o_s_2 each have the form _m._n, optionally followed by one or
    more of the flags bdfinr, where _m tells a number of fields
    to skip from the beginning of the line and _n tells a number
    of characters to skip further.  If any flags are present
    they override all the global ordering options for this key.
    If the b option is in effect _n is counted from the first
    nonblank in the field; b is attached independently to _p_o_s_2.
    A missing ._n means .0; a missing -_p_o_s_2 means the end of the
    line.  Under the -t_x option, fields are strings separated by
    _x; otherwise fields are nonempty nonblank strings separated
    by blanks.

    When there are multiple sort keys, later keys are compared
    only after all earlier keys compare equal.  Lines that oth-
    erwise compare equal are ordered with all bytes significant.

    These option arguments are also understood:

    c    Check that the input file is sorted according to the
         ordering rules; give no output unless the file is out
         of sort.

    m    Merge only, the input files are already sorted.

    o    The next argument is the name of an output file to use
         instead of the standard output.  This file may be the
         same as one of the inputs.

    T    The next argument is the name of a directory in which
         temporary files should be made.

    u    Suppress all but one in each set of equal lines.
         Ignored bytes and bytes outside keys do not participate
         in this comparison.

    Examples. Print in alphabetical order all the unique spel-
    lings in a list of words.  Capitalized words differ from
    uncapitalized.

            sort -u +0f +0 list

    Print the password file (_p_a_s_s_w_d(5)) sorted by user id number
    (the 3rd colon-separated field).

            sort -t: +2n /etc/passwd

    Print the first instance of each month in an already sorted
    file of (month day) entries.  The options -um with just one
    input file make the choice of a unique representative from a
    set of equal lines predictable.

            sort -um +0 -1 dates

FILES

    /usr/tmp/stm*, /tmp/*    first and second tries for tem-
    porary files

SEE ALSO

    uniq(1), comm(1), rev(1), join(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

    Comments and exits with nonzero status for various trouble
    conditions and for disorder discovered under option -c.

BUGS

    Very long lines are silently truncated.