sort − sort lines of text files
sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
sort [OPTION]... --files0-from=F
Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.
With no FILE, or when FILE is −, read standard input.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. 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’
−h, −−human−numeric−sort
compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)
−n, −−numeric−sort
compare according to string numerical value
−R, −−random−sort
shuffle, but group identical keys. See shuf(1)
−−random−source=FILE
get random bytes from FILE
−r, −−reverse
reverse the result of comparisons
−−sort=WORD
sort according to WORD: general−numeric −g, human−numeric −h, month −M, numeric −n, random −R, version −V
−V, −−version−sort
natural sort of (version) numbers within text
Other options:
−−batch−size=NMERGE
merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files
−c, −−check, −−check=diagnose−first
check for sorted input; do not sort
−C, −−check=quiet, −−check=silent
like −c, but do not report first bad line
−−compress−program=PROG
compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG −d
−−debug
annotate the part of the line used to sort, and warn about questionable usage to stderr
−−files0−from=F
read input from the files specified by NUL−terminated names in file F; If F is − then read names from standard input
−k, −−key=KEYDEF
sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type
−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−blank to blank transition
−T, −−temporary−directory=DIR
use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp; multiple options specify multiple directories
−−parallel=N
change the number of sorts run concurrently to N
−u, −−unique
with −c, check for strict ordering; without −c, output only the first of an equal run
−z, −−zero−terminated
line delimiter is NUL, not newline
−−help |
display this help and exit |
−−version
output version information and exit
KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1, and the stop position defaults to the line’s end. If neither −t nor −b is in effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace. OPTS is one or more single−letter ordering options [bdfgiMhnRrV], which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key. Use −−debug to diagnose incorrect key usage.
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.
*** 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.
Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.
GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report sort translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>
Copyright © 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sort>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sort invocation'