Sort

NAME sort - sort lines of text files

SYNOPSIS sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...

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

Ordering options:

Mandatory arguments  to  long  options are mandatory for short options too.

-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(3,n) numerical value

-r, --reverse reverse the result of comparisons

Other options:

-c, --check check whether input is sorted; do not sort(1,3)

-k, --key=POS1[,POS2] start a key at POS1, end it at POS 2 (origin 1)

-m, --merge merge(1,8) already sorted files; do not sort(1,3)

-o, --output=FILE write(1,2) result to FILE instead of standard output

-s, --stable stabilize sort(1,3) by disabling last-resort comparison

-S, --buffer-size=SIZE use SIZE for main memory buffer

-t, --field-separator=SEP use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transi- tion

-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; without -c, output only the first of an equal run

-z, --zero-terminated end lines with 0 byte, not newline

--help display this help and exit(3,n,1 builtins)

--version output version(1,3,5) information and exit(3,n,1 builtins)

POS is  F[.C][OPTS],  where  F is the field number and C the character position in(1,8) the field. OPTS is 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(2,n,1 builtins) standard input.

*** WARNING  ***  The locale(3,5,7) specified by the environment affects sort(1,3) order. Set LC_ALL=C to get the traditional sort(1,3) order that uses native byte values.

AUTHOR Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to .

COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.