SORT(1)

NAME
sort - sort lines of text files

SYNOPSIS
sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION

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

+POS1 [-POS2]
    start a key at POS1, end it *before* POS2 (obsolescent) field numbers and character offsets are numbered starting with zero (contrast with the -k option)

-b  ignore leading blanks in sort fields or keys

-c  check if given files already sorted, do not sort

-d  consider only [a-zA-Z0-9 ] characters in keys

-f  fold lower case to upper case characters in keys

-g  compare according to general numerical value, imply -b

-i  consider only [\040-\0176] characters in keys

-k POS1[,POS2]
    start a key at POS1, end it *at* POS2 field numbers and character offsets are numbered starting with one (contrast with zero-based +POS form)

-m  merge already sorted files, do not sort

-M  compare (unknown) < `JAN' < ... < `DEC', imply -b

-n  compare according to string numerical value, imply -b

-o FILE
    write result on FILE instead of standard output

-r  reverse the result of comparisons

-s  stabilize sort by disabling last resort comparison

-t SEP
    use SEParator instead of non- to whitespace transition

-T DIRECTORY
    use DIRECTORY for temporary files, not $TMPDIR or /tmp

-u  with -c: check for strict ordering otherwise: output only the first of an equal run

-z  end lines with 0 byte, not newline, for find -print0

--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 counted from one with -k, from zero with the obsolescent form. OPTS is made up of one or more of Mbdfinr; this effectively disables global -Mbdfinr settings for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

AUTHOR
Written by Mike Haertel.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <bug-textutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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 sort

should give you access to the complete manual.