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NAME
sort - sort lines of text files
SYNOPSIS
sort [-cmus] [-t separator] [-o output-file] [-bdfiMnr] [+POS1 [-POS2]]
[-k POS1[,POS2]] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of sort. sort sorts, merges,
or compares all the lines from the given files, or the standard input if
no files are given. A file name of `-' means standard input. By
default, sort writes the results to the standard output.
sort has three modes of operation: sort (the default), merge, and check
for sortedness. The following options change the operation mode:
-c Check whether the given files are already sorted: if they are not
all sorted, print an error message and exit with a status of 1.
-m Merge the given files by sorting them as a group. Each input file
should already be individually sorted. It always works to sort
instead of merge; merging is provided because it is faster, in the
case where it works.
A pair of lines is compared as follows: if any key fields have been
specified, sort compares each pair of fields, in the order specified on
the command line, according to the associated ordering options, until a
difference is found or no fields are left.
If any of the global options Mbdfinr are given but no key fields are
specified, sort compares the entire lines according to the global
options.
Finally, as a last resort when all keys compare equal (or if no ordering
options were specified at all), sort compares the lines byte by byte in
machine collating sequence. The -s option disables this last resort
comparison, producing a stable sort.
GNU sort has no limits on input line length or restrictions on bytes
allowed within lines. In addition, if the final byte of an input file is
not a newline, GNU sort silently supplies one. In some cases, such as
exactly what the -b and -f options do, BSD and System V sort programs
produce different output; GNU sort follows the POSIX behavior, which is
usually like the System V behavior.
If the environment variable TMPDIR is set, sort uses it as the directory
in which to put temporary files instead of the default, /tmp.
The following options affect the ordering of output lines. They may be
specified globally or as part of a specific key field. If no key fields
are specified, global options apply to comparison of entire lines;
otherwise the global options are inherited by key fields that do not
specify any special options of their own.
-b Ignore leading blanks when finding sort keys in each line.
-d Sort in `dictionary order': ignore all characters except letters,
digits and blanks when sorting.
-f Fold lower case characters into the equivalent upper case characters
when sorting so that, for example, `b' is sorted the same way `B'
is.
-i Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 (inclusive) when
sorting.
-M An initial string, consisting of any amount of white space, followed
by three letters abbreviating a month name, is folded to lower case
and compared in the order `jan' < `feb' < ... < `dec.' Invalid
names compare low to valid names. This option implies -b.
-n Compare according to arithmetic value an initial numeric string
consisting of optional white space, an optional - sign, and zero or
more digits, optionally followed by a decimal point and zero or more
digits. This option implies -b.
-r Reverse the result of comparison, so that lines with greater key
values appear earlier in the output instead of later.
Other options are:
-o output-file
Write output to output-file instead of to the standard output. If
output-file is one of the input files, sort copies it to a temporary
file before sorting and writing the output to output-file.
-t separator
Use character separator as the field separator when finding the sort
keys in each line. By default, fields are separated by the empty
string between a non-whitespace character and a whitespace
character. That is to say, given the input line ` foo bar', sort
breaks it into fields ` foo' and ` bar'. The field separator is not
considered to be part of either the field preceding or the field
following it.
-u For the default case or the -m option, only output the first of a
sequence of lines that compare equal. For the -c option, check that
no pair of consecutive lines compares equal.
+POS1 [-POS2]
Specify a field within each line to use as a sorting key. The field
consists of the portion of the line starting at POS1 and up to (but
not including) POS2 (or to the end of the line if POS2 is not
given). The fields and character positions are numbered starting
with 0.
-k POS1[,POS2]
An alternate syntax for specifying sorting keys. The fields and
character positions are numbered starting with 1.
A position has the form f.c, where f is the number of the field to use
and c is the number of the first character from the beginning of the
field (for +pos) or from the end of the previous field (for -pos). The
.c part of a position may be omitted in which case it is taken to be the
first character in the field. If the -b option has been given, the .c
part of a field specification is counted from the first nonblank
character of the field (for +pos) or from the first nonblank character
following the previous field (for -pos).
A +pos or -pos argument may also have any of the option letters Mbdfinr
appended to it, in which case the global ordering options are not used
for that particular field. The -b option may be independently attached
to either or both of the +pos and -pos parts of a field specification,
and if it is inherited from the global options it will be attached to
both. If a -n or -M option is used, thus implying a -b option, the -b
option is taken to apply to both the +pos and the -pos parts of a key
specification. Keys may span multiple fields.