User Commands                                             SORT(1)



NAME
     sort - sort lines of text files

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

DESCRIPTION
     Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to  standard  out-
     put.

     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'

     -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 (default /dev/urandom)

     -r, --reverse
          reverse the result of comparisons

     Other options:

     -c, --check
          check whether input is sorted; do not sort

     -k, --key=POS1[,POS2]
          start a key at POS1, end it at POS2 (origin 1)

     -m, --merge



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User Commands                                             SORT(1)



          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

     -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 nei-
     ther -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  suf-
     fixes:  % 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  LCAL=C to get the traditional
     sort order that uses native byte values.

AUTHOR
     Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.




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User Commands                                             SORT(1)



REPORTING BUGS
     Report bugs to .

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright O 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     This is free software.  You may redistribute  copies  of  it
     under   the   terms   of  the  GNU  General  Public  License
     .  There  is  NO  WAR-
     RANTY, 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 sort

     should give you access to the complete manual.

ATRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     
       ATRIBUTE TYPE      ATRIBUTE VALUE  
    
     Availability         SUNWgnu-coreutils 
    
     Interface Stability  Uncommitted       
    

NOTES
     Source    for    GNU    coreutils    is     available     on
     http:/opensolaris.org.





















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