sort is a standard Unix command line program that prints the lines of its input or concatenation of all files listed in its argument list in sorted order. Sorting is done based on one or more sort keys extracted from each line of input. By default, the entire input is taken as sort key. Blank space is taken used as default field separator. The -r flag will reverse the sort order.
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$ ls -s | sort -n 96 Nov1.txt 128 _arch_backup.lst 128 _arch_backup.lst.tmp 1708 NMON
$ cat phonebook Smith, Brett 555-4321 Doe, John 555-1234 Doe, Jane 555-3214 Avery, Cory 555-4132 Fogarty, Suzie 555-2314 $ sort phonebook Avery, Cory 555-4132 Doe, Jane 555-3214 Doe, John 555-1234 Fogarty, Suzie 555-2314 Smith, Brett 555-4321
The -k m,n option lets you sort on a particular field (start at m, end at n):
$ cat quota bob 1000 an 1000 chad 1000 don 1500 eric 5000 fred 2000 $ sort -k2n,2 -k1,1 quota an 1000 bob 1000 chad 1000 don 1500 fred 2000 eric 5000
-k2 stands for column 2, n stands for 'numeric ordering'
The -n option makes the program sort according to numerical value:
$ du /bin/* | sort -n 4 /bin/domainname 24 /bin/ls 102 /bin/sh 304 /bin/csh
In old versions of sort, the +1 option made the program sort using the second column of data (+2 for the third, etc.). This is deprecated, and instead the -k option can be used to do the same thing (note: "-k 2" for the second column):
$ cat zipcode Adam 12345 Bob 34567 Joe 56789 Sam 45678 Wendy 23456 $ sort -nk 2 zipcode Adam 12345 Wendy 23456 Bob 34567 Sam 45678 Joe 56789
$ sort -t'|' -k2 zipcode Adam|12345 Wendy|23456 Bob|34567 Sam|45678 Joe|1
$ sort -k2,2 -t $'\t' phonebook Doe, John 555-1234 Fogarty, Suzie 555-2314 Doe, Jane 555-3214 Avery, Cory 555-4132 Smith, Brett 555-4321
The -r option just reverses the order of the sort:
$ sort -nrk 2 zipcode Joe 56789 Sam 45678 Bob 34567 Wendy 23456 Adam 12345
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