Windows 8 In Depth

SORT: Sorting the Contents of a File

When you obtain a file from the Internet or some other source, the data in the file may not appear in the order you want. What we usually do in such cases is import the file into Word or Excel and then use the program’s Sort feature. This sometimes involves extra steps (such as converting text to a table in Word), so it’s not always an efficient way to work.

If the file is text, it’s often easier and faster to run the SORT command-line tool. By default, SORT takes the content of the file, sorts it in ascending alphanumeric order (0 to 9, then a to z, and then A to Z) starting at the beginning of each line in the file, and then displays the sorted results. You can also run descending order sorts, write the ...