UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

the rows have to be sorted according to the second column (family name). In addition, the number of family names that start with a particular alphabet
character is put before the beginning of the series. Assume that the file have
4 columns with the following column formatting:

first name (string), family name (string), address (string), telephone number (string).

As an example, the file will have the following format after being processed by
the shell script:
before:

George, Bassam, Haifi - Carmel mount, 04-222 340
Max, Amir, Tokyo - Garden area, 295 1090
Jone, Adam, Jerusalem - Salah Eddine Street, 585 6230

after:

2
Jone, Adam, Jerusalem - Salah Eddine Street, 585 6230
Max, Amir, Tokyo - Garden area, 295 1090
1
George, Bassam, Haifi - Carmel mount, 04-222 340


i thought about this long time...please help

use the sort command parameter -k to sort by columns. In your case sort -k 2 yourfile.txt

---------- Post updated at 12:57 AM ---------- Previous update was at 12:47 AM ----------

You will also have to set sorts delimiter. I can surmise that your not using a space to tell what is the column. The -t argument will allow you to set the field seperator.

that was very usful ... thanx
but its still how to put the numbers that idecate how the first alphabet letter

---------- Post updated at 02:13 PM ---------- Previous update was at 07:48 AM ----------

i have tryed to change the contenent of the file to be sored by
sort -t "," -k 2 "$n1" > "$n1"
but it didnt worked... the command create empty file!!!!
can some body help me

You can't output to the same file you're reading from.

Try this:

Code:

sort -t"," -k 2 file | 
awk '{
  fl=substr($2,1,1)
  a[fl]=a[fl]?a[fl] RS $0:$0
  c[fl]++
}
END{ for(i in a) print c[i] RS a[i]}'

thanx 4 reply ... i will try this