# 2.11BSD#431 - /usr/man/cat1/sort.0

    SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  SORT(1)

    NAME
         sort - sort or merge files

    SYNOPSIS
         sort [ -mubdfinrt________x ] [ +pos1  [ -pos2 ] ] ...  [ -o name ] [
         -T directory ] [ name ] ...

    DESCRIPTION
         Sort sorts lines of all the named files together and writes
         the result on the standard output.  The name `-' means the
         standard input.  If no input files are named, the standard
         input is sorted.

         The default sort key is an entire line.  Default ordering is
         lexicographic by bytes in machine collating sequence.  The
         ordering is affected globally by the following options, one
         or more of which may appear.

         b	  Ignore leading blanks (spaces and tabs) in field com-
    	  parisons.

         d	  `Dictionary' order: only letters, digits and blanks are
    	  significant in comparisons.

         f	  Fold upper case letters onto lower case.

         i	  Ignore characters outside the ASCII range 040-0176 in
    	  nonnumeric comparisons.

         n	  An initial numeric string, consisting of optional
    	  blanks, optional minus sign, and zero or more digits
    	  with optional decimal point, is sorted by arithmetic
    	  value.  Option n implies option b.

         r	  Reverse the sense of comparisons.

         tx   `Tab character' separating fields is x.

         The notation +pos1 -pos2 restricts a sort key to a field
         beginning at pos1 and ending just before pos2.  Pos1 and
         pos2 each have the form m.n, optionally followed by one or
         more of the flags bdfinr, where m tells a number of fields
         to skip from the beginning of the line and n tells a number
         of characters to skip further.  If any flags are present
         they override all the global ordering options for this key.
         If the b option is in effect n is counted from the first
         nonblank in the field; b is attached independently to pos2.
         A missing .n means .0; a missing -pos2 means the end of the
         line.  Under the -tx option, fields are strings separated by
         x; otherwise fields are nonempty nonblank strings separated
         by blanks.

    Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         1

    SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  SORT(1)

         When there are multiple sort keys, later keys are compared
         only after all earlier keys compare equal.  Lines that oth-
         erwise compare equal are ordered with all bytes significant.

         These option arguments are also understood:

         c	  Check that the input file is sorted according to the
    	  ordering rules; give no output unless the file is out
    	  of sort.

         m	  Merge only, the input files are already sorted.

         o	  The next argument is the name of an output file to use
    	  instead of the standard output.  This file may be the
    	  same as one of the inputs.

         T	  The next argument is the name of a directory in which
    	  temporary files should be made.

         u	  Suppress all but one in each set of equal lines.
    	  Ignored bytes and bytes outside keys do not participate
    	  in this comparison.

    EXAMPLES
         Print in alphabetical order all the unique spellings in a
         list of words.  Capitalized words differ from uncapitalized.

    	     sort -u +0f +0 list

         Print the password file (passwd(5)) sorted by user id number
         (the 3rd colon-separated field).

    	     sort -t: +2n /etc/passwd

         Print the first instance of each month in an already sorted
         file of (month day) entries.  The options -um with just one
         input file make the choice of a unique representative from a
         set of equal lines predictable.

    	     sort -um +0 -1 dates

    FILES
         /usr/tmp/stm*, /tmp/*    first and second tries for tem-
         porary files

    SEE ALSO
         uniq(1), comm(1), rev(1), join(1)

    DIAGNOSTICS
         Comments and exits with nonzero status for various trouble
         conditions and for disorder discovered under option -c.

    Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         2

    SORT(1)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  SORT(1)

    BUGS
         Very long lines are silently truncated.

    Printed 11/26/99	 April 29, 1985                         3

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