sort(1) 							   User Commands							   sort(1)

NAME

       sort - sort, merge, or sequence check text files

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/sort [-bcdfimMnru] [-k keydef] [-o output] [-S kmem] [-t char] [-T directory] [ -y  [kmem]] [-z recsz] [ +pos1	[-pos2]] [file...]

       /usr/xpg4/bin/sort  [-bcdfimMnru]  [-k keydef]  [-o output]  [-S kmem]  [-t char] [-T directory] [ -y  [kmem]] [-z recsz] [ +pos1  [-pos2]]
       [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       The sort command sorts 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.
       Lines are ordered according to the collating sequence of the current locale.

OPTIONS

       The following options alter the default behavior:

   /usr/bin/sort
       -c	       Checks  that  the  single  input  file  is  ordered as specified by the arguments and the collating sequence of the current
		       locale. The exit code is set and no output is produced unless the file is out of sort.

   /usr/xpg4/bin/sort
       -c	       Same as /usr/bin/sort except no output is produced under any circumstances.

       -m	       Merges only. The input files are assumed to be already sorted.

       -o output       Specifies the name of an output file to be used instead of the standard output. This file can be the same  as  one  of  the
		       input files.

       -S kmem	       Specifies the maximum amount of swap-based memory used for sorting, in kilobytes (the default unit). kmem can also be spec-
		       ified directly as a number of bytes (b), kilobytes (k), megabytes (m), gigabytes (g), or terabytes (t); or as a	percentage
		       (%) of the installed physical memory.

       -T directory    Specifies the directory in which to place temporary files.

       -u	       Unique: suppresses all but one in each set of lines having equal keys. If used with the -c option, checks that there are no
		       lines with duplicate keys in addition to checking that the input file is sorted.

       -y kmem	       (obsolete). This option was used to specify the amount of main memory initially used by	sort.  Its  functionality  is  not
		       appropriate for a virtual memory system; memory usage for sort is now specified using the -S option.

       -z recsz        (obsolete). This option was used to prevent abnormal termination when lines longer than the system-dependent default buffer
		       size are encountered. Because sort automatically allocates buffers large enough to hold the longest line, this  option  has
		       no effect.

   Ordering Options
       The  default sort order depends on the value of LC_COLLATE. If LC_COLLATE is set to C, sorting will be in ASCII order. If LC_COLLATE is set
       to en_US, sorting is case insensitive except when the two strings are otherwise equal and one has an  uppercase	letter	earlier  than  the
       other. Other locales will have other sort orders.

       The  following  options	override the default ordering rules. When ordering options appear independent of any key field specifications, the
       requested field ordering rules are applied globally to all sort keys. When attached to a specific key (see Sort Key Options), the specified
       ordering  options  override  all  global ordering options for that key. In the obsolescent forms, if one or more of these options follows a
       +pos1 option, it will affect only the key field specified by that preceding option.

       -d	       ``Dictionary'' order: only letters, digits, and blanks (spaces and tabs) are significant in comparisons.

       -f	       Folds lower-case letters into upper case.

       -i	       Ignores non-printable characters.

       -M	       Compares as months. The first three non-blank characters of the field are folded to upper case and compared.  For  example,
		       in English the sorting order is "JAN" < "FEB" < ... < "DEC". Invalid fields compare low to "JAN". The -M option implies the
		       -b option (see below).

       -n	       Restricts the sort key to an initial numeric string, consisting of optional blank characters, optional minus sign, and zero
		       or  more digits with an optional radix character and thousands separators (as defined in the current locale), which will be
		       sorted by arithmetic value.  An empty digit string is treated as zero. Leading zeros and  signs	on  zeros  do  not  affect
		       ordering.

       -r	       Reverses the sense of comparisons.

   Field Separator Options
       The treatment of field separators can be altered using the following options:

       -b	       Ignores	leading  blank	characters  when determining the starting and ending positions of a restricted sort key. If the -b
		       option is specified before the first sort key option, it is applied to all sort key options. Otherwise, the -b  option  can
		       be attached independently to each -k field_start, field_end, or +pos1 or -pos2 option-argument (see below).

       -t char	       Use  char  as the field separator character. char is not considered to be part of a field (although it can be included in a
		       sort key).  Each occurrence of char is significant (for example, <char><char> delimits an empty field). If -t is not speci-
		       fied,  blank characters are used as default field separators; each maximal non-empty sequence of blank characters that fol-
		       lows a non-blank character is a field separator.

   Sort Key Options
       Sort keys can be specified using the options:

       -k keydef       The keydef argument is a restricted sort key field definition. The format of this definition is:

		       -k field_start [type] [,field_end [type] ]

			where:

		       field_start and field_end

			   define a key field restricted to a portion of the line.

		       type

			   is a modifier from the list of characters bdfiMnr. The b modifier behaves like the -b option, but applies only  to  the
			   field_start	or  field_end  to  which it is attached and characters within a field are counted from the first non-blank
			   character in the field. (This applies separately to first_character and last_character.)  The  other  modifiers  behave
			   like  the  corresponding  options, but apply only to the key field to which they are attached. They have this effect if
			   specified with field_start, field_end or both.  If any modifier is attached to a field_start  or  to  a  field_end,	no
			   option applies to either.

		       When  there  are multiple key fields, later keys are compared only after all earlier keys compare equal. Except when the -u
		       option is specified, lines that otherwise compare equal are ordered as if none of the options -d, -f, -i,  -n  or  -k  were
		       present (but with -r still in effect, if it was specified) and with all bytes in the lines significant to the comparison.

		       The notation:

		       -k field_start[type][,field_end[type]]

		       defines	a key field that begins at field_start and ends at field_end inclusive, unless field_start falls beyond the end of
		       the line or after field_end, in which case the key field is empty. A missing field_end means  the  last	character  of  the
		       line.

		       A  field  comprises  a  maximal sequence of non-separating characters and, in the absence of option -t, any preceding field
		       separator.

		       The field_start portion of the keydef option-argument has the form:

		       field_number[.first_character]

		       Fields and characters within fields are numbered starting with 1. field_number and first_character, interpreted as positive
		       decimal	integers,  specify the first character to be used as part of a sort key. If .first_character is omitted, it refers
		       to the first character of the field.

		       The field_end portion of the keydef option-argument has the form:

		       field_number[.last_character]

		       The field_number is as described above for field_start. last_character, interpreted  as	a  non-negative  decimal  integer,
		       specifies  the last character to be used as part of the sort key. If last_character evaluates to zero or .last_character is
		       omitted, it refers to the last character of the field specified by field_number.

		       If the -b option or b type modifier is in effect, characters within a field are counted from the first non-blank  character
		       in the field. (This applies separately to first_character and last_character.)

       [+pos1 [-pos2]] (obsolete). Provide functionality equivalent to the -kkeydef option.

		       pos1 and pos2 each have the form m.n optionally followed by one or more of the flags bdfiMnr. A starting position specified
		       by +m.n is interpreted to mean the n+1st character in the m+1st field. A missing .n means .0, indicating the first  charac-
		       ter  of	the m+1st field. If the b flag is in effect n is counted from the first non-blank in the m+1st field; +m.0b refers
		       to the first non-blank character in the m+1st field.

		       A last position specified by -m.n is interpreted to mean the nth character (including separators) after the last  character
		       of  the	mth  field. A missing .n means .0, indicating the last character of the mth field. If the b flag is in effect n is
		       counted from the last leading blank in the m+1st field; -m.1b refers to the first non-blank in the m+1st field.

		       The fully specified +pos1 -pos2 form with type modifiers T and U:

		       +w.xT -y.zU

		       is equivalent to:

		       undefined	    (z==0 & U contains b & -t is present)
		       -k w+1.x+1T,y.0U     (z==0 otherwise)
		       -k w+1.x+1T,y+1.zU   (z > 0)

		       Implementations support at least nine occurrences of the sort keys (the -k option and obsolescent +pos1	and  -pos2)  which
		       are significant in command line order. If no sort key is specified, a default sort key of the entire line is used.

OPERANDS

       The following operand is supported:

       file	A  path name of a file to be sorted, merged or checked. If no file operands are specified, or if a file operand is -, the standard
		input will be used.

USAGE

       See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of sort when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).

EXAMPLES

       In the following examples, first the preferred and then the obsolete way of specifying sort keys are given as an aid to	understanding  the
       relationship between the two forms.

       Example 1: Sorting with the second field as a sort key

       Either of the following commands sorts the contents of infile with the second field as the sort key:

       example% sort -k 2,2 infile
       example% sort +1 -2 infile

       Example 2: Sorting in reverse order

       Either  of the following commands sorts, in reverse order, the contents of infile1 and infile2, placing the output in outfile and using the
       second character of the second field as the sort key (assuming that the first character of the second field is the field separator):

       example% sort -r -o outfile -k 2.2,2.2 infile1 infile2
       example% sort -r -o outfile +1.1 -1.2 infile1 infile2

       Example 3: Sorting using a specified character in one of the files

       Either of the following commands sorts the contents of infile1 and infile2 using the second non-blank character of the second field as  the
       sort key:

       example% sort -k 2.2b,2.2b infile1 infile2
       example% sort +1.1b -1.2b infile1 infile2

       Example 4: Sorting by numeric user ID

       Either of the following commands prints the passwd(4) file (user database) sorted by the numeric user ID (the third colon-separated field):

       example% sort -t : -k 3,3n /etc/passwd
       example% sort -t : +2 -3n /etc/passwd

       Example 5: Printing sorted lines excluding lines that duplicate a field

       Either of the following commands prints the lines of the already sorted file infile, suppressing all but one occurrence of lines having the
       same third field:

       example% sort -um -k 3.1,3.0 infile
       example% sort -um +2.0 -3.0 infile

       Example 6: Sorting by host IP address

       Either of the following commands prints the hosts(4) file (IPv4 hosts database), sorted by the numeric IP address (the first  four  numeric
       fields):

       example$ sort -t . -k 1,1n -k 2,2n -k 3,3n -k 4,4n /etc/hosts
       example$ sort -t . +0 -1n +1 -2n +2 -3n +3 -4n /etc/hosts

       Since  '.'  is both the field delimiter and, in many locales, the decimal separator, failure to specify both ends of the field will lead to
       results where the second field is interpreted as a fractional portion of the first, and so forth.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of sort: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_MES-
       SAGES, and NLSPATH.

       LC_CTYPE        Determine  the  locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single- versus
		       multi-byte characters in arguments and input files) and the behavior of character classification for the -b, -d, -f, -i and
		       -n options.

       LC_NUMERIC      Determine the locale for the definition of the radix character and thousands separator for the -n option.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0	All input files were output successfully, or -c was specified and the input file was correctly sorted.

       1	Under  the -c option, the file was not ordered as specified, or if the -c and -u options were both specified, two input lines were
		found with equal keys.

       >1	An error occurred.

FILES

       /var/tmp/stm???	       temporary files

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

   /usr/bin/sort
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWesu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |Enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

   /usr/xpg4/bin/sort
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWxcu4			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |CSI			     |Enabled			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       comm(1), join(1), uniq(1), nl_langinfo(3C), strftime(3C), hosts(4), passwd(4), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5)

DIAGNOSTICS

       Comments and exits with non-zero status for various trouble conditions (for example, when input lines are too long), and for disorders dis-
       covered under the -c option.

NOTES

       When the last line of an input file is missing a new-line character, sort appends one, prints a warning message, and continues.

       sort does not guarantee preservation of relative line ordering on equal keys.

       One  can  tune  sort  performance for a specific scenario using the -S option. However, one should note in particular that sort has greater
       knowledge of how to use a finite amount of memory for sorting than the virtual memory system. Thus, a sort invoked to request an  extremely
       large amount of memory via the -S option could perform extremely poorly.

       As  noted,  certain  of the field modifiers (such as -M and -d) cause the interpretation of input data to be done with reference to locale-
       specific settings. The results of this interpretation can be unexpected if one's expectations are not aligned with the  conventions  estab-
       lished by the locale. In the case of the month keys, sort does not attempt to compensate for "approximate" month abbreviations. The precise
       month abbreviations from nl_langinfo(3C) or strftime(3C) are the only ones recognized. For printable or dictionary order, if these concepts
       are  not well-defined by the locale, an empty sort key may be the result, leading to the next key being the significant one for determining
       the appropriate ordering.

SunOS 5.10							    19 Nov 2001 							   sort(1)