Linux Shells by Example

sort—sort and/or merge files

sort  [-cmus] [-t separator] [-o output-file] [-T tempdir]
   [-bdfiMnr] [+POS1 [-POS2]] [-k POS1[,POS2]][file…]
sort {--help,--version}

The sort command sorts (ASCII) lines of all the named files together and writes the result on the standard output. 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, and ordering is lexicographic by bytes in machine collating sequence.

Example A.53.

1 sort filename 2 sort -u filename 3 sort -r filename 4 sort +1 -2 filename 5 sort -2n filename 6 sort -t: +2n -3 filename 7 sort -f filename 8 sort -b +1 filename

Explanation

1. Sorts the lines alphabetically.

2. Sorts out duplicate entries.

3. Sorts in ...