sort(1)
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sort Command
sort and/or merge files
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SYNTAX
sort [-cmu] [-ooutput] [-ykmem] [-zrecsz] [-dfiMnr] [-btx] [+pos1
[-pos2]] [files]
DESCRIPTION
Sort sorts lines of all the named files and writes the result on
the standard output. The standard input is read if - is used as
a file name or if no input files are named.
The default sort order is by ASCII code, wherein all capital
letters come before lowercase letters. To get more conventional
alphabetical sorting, use the -f or -d option. Numerical and by-
month sorts are also possible; see the options below.
Comparisons are based on one or more sort keys extracted from
each line of input. By default, there is one sort key: the
entire input line.
The following options alter the default behavior:
-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.
-u Unique: suppress all but one in each set of lines having
equal keys.
-ooutput
The argument given 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. There may be optional blanks between
-o and output.
-ykmem
The amount of main memory used by the sort has a large
impact on its performance. Sorting a small file in a large
amount of memory is a waste. If this option is omitted,
sort begins using a system default memory size, and
continues to use more space as needed. If this option is
presented with a value, kmem, sort will start using that
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number of kilobytes of memory, unless the administrative
minimum or maximum is violated, in which case the
corresponding extremum will be used. Thus, -y0 is
guaranteed to start with minimum memory. By convention, -y
(with no argument) starts with maximum memory.
-zrecsz
The size of the longest line read is recorded in the sort
phase so buffers can be allocated during the merge phase.
If the sort phase is omitted via the -c or -m options, a
popular system default size will be used. Lines longer than
the buffer size will terminate sort abnormally. Supplying
the actual number of bytes in the longest line to be merged
(or some larger value) will prevent abnormal termination.
The following options override the default ordering rules.
-M Compare as months. The first three non-blank characters of
the field are folded to upper case and compared so that JAN
< FEB < ... < DEC. Invalid fields compare low to JAN. The
-M option implies the -b option (see above).
-d Dictionary order: only letters, digits and blanks (spaces
and tabs) are significant in comparisons.
-f Fold lower case letters into upper case.
-i Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 in non-
numeric 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. The -n option
implies the -b option (see below). Note that the -b option
is effective only when restricted sort key specifications
are in effect.
-r Reverse the sense of comparisons.
When ordering options appear before restricted sort key
specifications, the requested ordering rules are applied globally
to all sort keys. When attached to a specific sort key
(described below), the specified ordering options override all
global ordering options for that key.
The notation +pos1 -pos2 restricts a sort key to one beginning at
pos1 and ending at pos2. The characters at positions pos1 and
pos2 are included in the sort key (provided that pos2 does not
precede pos1). A missing -pos2 means the end of the line.
Specifying pos1 and pos2 involves the notion of a field, a
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minimal sequence of characters followed by a field separator or a
new-line. By default, the first blank (space or tab) of a
sequence of blanks acts as the field separator. All blanks in a
sequence of blanks are considered to be part of the next field;
for example, all blanks at the beginning of a line are considered
to be part of the first field. You can alter the treatment of
field separators using these options:
-tx Use x as the field separator character; x is not considered
to be part of a field (although it may be included in a sort
key). Each occurrence of x is significant (e.g., xx
delimits an empty field).
-b Ignore leading blanks when determining the starting and
ending positions of a restricted sort key. If the -b option
is specified before the first +pos1 argument, it will be
applied to all +pos1 arguments. Otherwise, the b flag may
be attached independently to each +pos1 or -pos2 argument
(see below).
Pos1 and pos2 each have the form m.n optionally followed by one
or more of the flags bdfinr. A starting position specified by
+m.n is interpreted to mean the n+1st character in the m+1st
field. A missing .n means .0, indicating the first character of
the m+1st field. If the b flag is in effect, n is counted from
the first non-blank in the m+1st field; +m.0b refers to the first
non-blank character in the m+1st field.
A last position specified by -m.n is interpreted to mean the nth
character (including separators) after the last character of the
m th field. A missing .n means .0, indicating the last character
of the mth field. If the b flag is in effect n is counted from
the last leading blank in the m+1st field; -m.1b refers to the
first non-blank in the m+1st field.
When there are multiple sort keys, later keys are compared only
after all earlier keys compare equal. Lines that otherwise
compare equal are ordered with all bytes significant.
EXAMPLES
Sort the contents of infile with the second field as the sort
key:
sort +1 -2 infile
Sort, in reverse order, the contents of infile1 and infile2,
placing the output in outfile and using the first character of
the second field as the sort key:
sort -r -o outfile +1.0 -1.2 infile1 infile2
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Sort, in reverse order, the contents of infile1 and infile2 using
the first non-blank character of the second field as the sort
key:
sort -r +1.0b -1.1b infile1 infile2
Print the password file (passwd(4)) sorted by the numeric user ID
(the third colon-separated field):
sort -t: +2n -3 /etc/passwd
Print the lines of the already sorted file infile, suppressing
all but the first occurrence of lines having the same third field
(the options -um with just one input file make the choice of a
unique representative from a set of equal lines predictable):
sort -um +2 -3 infile
FILES
/usr/tmp/stm???
SEE ALSO
comm(1), join(1), uniq(1).
DIAGNOSTICS
Comments and exits with non-zero status for various trouble
conditions (e.g., when input lines are too long), and for
disorder discovered under the -c option.
When the last line of an input file is missing a new-line
character, sort appends one, prints a warning message, and
continues.
Sort does not guarantee preservation of relative line ordering on
equal keys.
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