SORT(1) 1990 SORT(1) NNAAMMEE sort - sort or merge files SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS ssoorrtt [ -_m_u_b_d_f_i_n_r_t_x ] [ ++_p_o_s_1 [ --_p_o_s_2 ] ] ... [ --oo name ] [ --TT directory ] [ name ] ... DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN _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. bb Ignore leading blanks (spaces and tabs) in field com- parisons. dd `Dictionary' order: only letters, digits and blanks are significant in comparisons. ff Fold upper case letters onto lower case. ii Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 in nonnumeric comparisons. nn 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. (Note that --00 is considered equal to 00.) Option nn implies option bb.. rr Reverse the sense of comparisons. tt_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 bbddffiinnrr,, 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 bb option is in effect _n is counted from the first nonblank in the field; bb 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 --tt_x option, fields are strings separated by _x; otherwise fields are nonempty nonblank strings separated by blanks. Printed 7/27/90 June 1 SORT(1) 1990 SORT(1) 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: cc Check that the input file is sorted according to the ordering rules; give no output unless the file is out of sort. mm Merge only, the input files are already sorted. oo 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. TT The next argument is the name of a directory in which temporary files should be made. uu Suppress all but one in each set of equal lines. Ignored bytes and bytes outside keys do not participate in this comparison. EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS Print in alphabetical order all the unique spellings 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 --uumm with just one input file make the choice of a unique representative from a set of equal lines predictable. sort -um +0 -1 dates FFIILLEESS /usr/tmp/stm*, /tmp/* first and second tries for tem- porary files SSEEEE AALLSSOO uniq(1), comm(1), rev(1), join(1) DDIIAAGGNNOOSSTTIICCSS Comments and exits with nonzero status for various trouble conditions and for disorder discovered under option --cc. Printed 7/27/90 June 2 SORT(1) 1990 SORT(1) BBUUGGSS Very long lines are silently truncated. Printed 7/27/90 June 3