Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

sort

Synopsis

sort [options] [files]

Sort the lines of the named files. Compare specified fields for each pair of lines; if no fields are specified, compare them by byte, in machine-collating sequence. If no files are specified or if the file is -, the input is taken from standard input. See also uniq, comm, and join.

Options

-b, --ignore-leading-blanks

Ignore leading spaces and tabs.

-c, --check

Check whether files are already sorted and, if so, produce no output.

-C, --check=quiet, --check=silent

Like -c, but do not report the first bad line.

-d, --dictionary-order

Sort in dictionary order.

-f, --ignore-case

Fold; ignore uppercase/lowercase differences.

-g, --general-numeric-sort

Sort in general numeric order.

--help

Print a help message and then exit.

-i, --ignore-nonprinting

Ignore nonprinting characters (those outside ASCII range 040–176).

-k n[,m], --key=n[,m]

Skip n−1 fields and stop at m−1 fields (i.e., start sorting at the nth field, where the fields are numbered beginning with 1). If m is omitted, stop at the end of the line.

-m, --merge

Merge already sorted input files.

-M, --month-sort

Attempt to treat the first three characters as a month designation (JAN, FEB, etc.). In comparisons, treat JAN < FEB and any invalid name for a month as less than a valid month.

-n, --numeric-sort

Sort in arithmetic order.

-ofile, --output=file

Put output in file.

-r, --reverse

Reverse the order of the sort.

-s, --stable

Stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison.

-Ssize, --buffer-size=size

Set the size of the ...