Hi,

I have an urgent task here. I am required to sort a flat file based on multiple columns which are based on the character position in that line. I am restricted to use the character position instead of the space and sort +1 +2 etc to do the sorting.

I understand that there is a previous post which is similar to my problem but for that case, the sorting can be done using sort +1 +2 etc.

For my case, I am unable to do it as each column may be made up of some words separated by a space etc and as such spacing is not a correct delimiter to define the column.

I need help regarding this matter, either using unix shell scripting or awk. Thanks a lot

Can you post some sample data here.? Thanks.

Faroe Island 20 island
japan 19 airline

The above is the sample data. As you can see, the intended first colum is actually Faroe Island instead of just Faroe. As such, It is necessary to use the char position to distinguish the columns.

Appreciate if you could provide me with some advise on how to do the sorting...For example I wanna sort according to the first column and last column

PS: Assume the 20 and 19, island and airline are all at the same char position

cat test
Faroe Island 20 island
japan 19 test
japan 19 airline
Alpha Zulu 21 island
Alpha 121 island

Try this:
sed '
s/ \([0-9]\)/,\1/
s/\([0-9]\) /\1,/
' test | sort -k1,3

Alpha,121,island
Alpha Zulu,21,island
Faroe Island,20,island
japan,19,airline
japan,19,test


if you want to change "," back to space

sed '
s/ \([0-9]\)/,\1/
s/\([0-9]\) /\1,/
' test | sort -k1,3 | sed 's/,/ /g'

Alpha 121 island
Alpha Zulu 21 island
Faroe Island 20 island
japan 19 airline
japan 19 test

Try this (assume numbers 19 and 20 starting from column 15):

Jean-Pierre.

But how u sort using 2 columns? If the first cloum compared is a tie, then compare the other column?

In general, how to sort(order by) multiple columns?

sort -k 1,3 is doing just that. eg, for input
Faroe Island 20 island
japan 19 test
japan 19 airline
Alpha Zulu 21 island
Alpha 121 island

Japan occurs twice in first column, so while sorting, 3rd column is considered and the output is:

Alpha 121 island
Alpha Zulu 21 island
Faroe Island 20 island
japan 19 airline
japan 19 test

isn't that what you wanted?