SORT(1) 							   User Commands							   SORT(1)

NAME

       sort - sort lines of text files

SYNOPSIS

       sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
       sort [OPTION]... --files0-from=F

DESCRIPTION

       Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.

       Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.  Ordering options:

       -b, --ignore-leading-blanks
	      ignore leading blanks

       -d, --dictionary-order
	      consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters

       -f, --ignore-case
	      fold lower case to upper case characters

       -g, --general-numeric-sort
	      compare according to general numerical value

       -i, --ignore-nonprinting
	      consider only printable characters

       -M, --month-sort
	      compare (unknown) < `JAN' < ... < `DEC'

       -h, --human-numeric-sort
	      compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)

       -n, --numeric-sort
	      compare according to string numerical value

       -R, --random-sort
	      sort by random hash of keys

       --random-source=FILE
	      get random bytes from FILE

       -r, --reverse
	      reverse the result of comparisons

       --sort=WORD
	      sort according to WORD: general-numeric -g, human-numeric -h, month -M, numeric -n, random -R, version -V

       -V, --version-sort
	      natural sort of (version) numbers within text

       Other options:

       --batch-size=NMERGE
	      merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files

       -c, --check, --check=diagnose-first
	      check for sorted input; do not sort

       -C, --check=quiet, --check=silent
	      like -c, but do not report first bad line

       --compress-program=PROG
	      compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG -d

       --debug
	      annotate the part of the line used to sort, and warn about questionable usage to stderr

       --files0-from=F
	      read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If F is - then read names from standard input

       -k, --key=POS1[,POS2]
	      start a key at POS1 (origin 1), end it at POS2 (default end of line).  See POS syntax below

       -m, --merge
	      merge already sorted files; do not sort

       -o, --output=FILE
	      write result to FILE instead of standard output

       -s, --stable
	      stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison

       -S, --buffer-size=SIZE
	      use SIZE for main memory buffer

       -t, --field-separator=SEP
	      use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition

       -T, --temporary-directory=DIR
	      use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp; multiple options specify multiple directories

       --parallel=N
	      change the number of sorts run concurrently to N

       -u, --unique
	      with -c, check for strict ordering; without -c, output only the first of an equal run

       -z, --zero-terminated
	      end lines with 0 byte, not newline

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
	      output version information and exit

       POS  is	F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position in the field; both are origin 1.	If neither -t nor -b is in
       effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace.  OPTS	is  one  or  more  single-letter  ordering
       options, which override global ordering options for that key.  If no key is given, use the entire line as the key.

       SIZE may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: % 1% of memory, b 1, K 1024 (default), and so on for M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       ***  WARNING  ***  The  locale  specified  by the environment affects sort order.  Set LC_ALL=C to get the traditional sort order that uses
       native byte values.

AUTHOR

       Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report sort bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
       GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
       Report sort translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       The full documentation for sort is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info and sort programs are properly installed at your site,  the
       command

	      info coreutils 'sort invocation'

       should give you access to the complete manual.

GNU coreutils 8.12.197-032bb					  September 2011							   SORT(1)