SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  SORT(1)



NAME
     sort - sort or merge files

SYNOPSIS
     sort [ -mubdfinrt_________x ] [ +_p_o_s_1  [ -_p_o_s_2 ] ] ...  [ -o name ] [
     -T directory ] [ name ] ...

DESCRIPTION
     _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.

     b	  Ignore leading blanks (spaces and tabs) in field com-
	  parisons.

     d	  `Dictionary' order: only letters, digits and blanks are
	  significant in comparisons.

     f	  Fold upper case letters onto lower case.

     i	  Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 in
	  nonnumeric comparisons.

     n	  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.  Option n implies option b.

     r	  Reverse the sense of comparisons.

     t_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 bdfinr, 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 b option is in effect _n is counted from the first
     nonblank in the field; b 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 -t_x option, fields are strings separated by
     _x; otherwise fields are nonempty nonblank strings separated
     by blanks.




Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         1






SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  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:

     c	  Check that the input file is sorted according to the
	  ordering rules; give no output unless the file is out
	  of sort.

     m	  Merge only, the input files are already sorted.

     o	  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.

     T	  The next argument is the name of a directory in which
	  temporary files should be made.

     u	  Suppress all but one in each set of equal lines.
	  Ignored bytes and bytes outside keys do not participate
	  in this comparison.

EXAMPLES
     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 -um with just one
     input file make the choice of a unique representative from a
     set of equal lines predictable.

	     sort -um +0 -1 dates

FILES
     /usr/tmp/stm*, /tmp/*    first and second tries for tem-
     porary files

SEE ALSO
     uniq(1), comm(1), rev(1), join(1)

DIAGNOSTICS
     Comments and exits with nonzero status for various trouble
     conditions and for disorder discovered under option -c.




Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         2






SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  SORT(1)



BUGS
     Very long lines are silently truncated.





















































Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         3