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SORT(1)                                         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 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'

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

       -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
              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.  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 bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This  is  free software.  You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public
       License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.  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 sort

       should give you access to the complete manual.



sort 5.93                                       November 2005                                        SORT(1)