sort - Further Options, Key Definitions, and Usage Notes

natural sort of (version) numbers within text Other options: --batch-size=NMERGE merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files -c, --check, --check=diagnose-first check for sorted input; do not sort -C, --check=quiet, --check=silent like -c, but do not report first bad line --compress-program=PROG compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG -d --debug annotate the part of the line used to sort, and warn about ques‐ tionable usage to stderr --files0-from=F read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If F is - then read names from standard input -k, --key=KEYDEF sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type -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 --parallel=N change the number of sorts run concurrently to N -u, --unique with -c, check for strict ordering; without -c, output only the first of an equal run -z, --zero-terminated line delimiter is NUL, not newline --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number and C a character position in the field; both are ori‐ gin 1, and the stop position defaults to the line’s end. If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are counted from the begin‐ ning of the preceding whitespace. OPTS is one or more single-letter or‐ dering options [bdfgiMhnRrV], which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key. Use --debug to diagnose incorrect key usage. 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. *** WARNING *** The locale specified by the environment affects sort or‐ der. 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 GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/> COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. SEE ALSO shuf(1), uniq(1) Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sort> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sort invocation' GNU coreutils 9.1 January 2024 SORT(1)

This section details further options for the `sort` command, including batch size, input checking, temporary file compression, debugging, key definitions, merging, output redirection, stable sorting, buffer size, field separation, temporary directory specification, parallel execution, unique output, and zero-terminated lines. It describes how to define sort keys using field and character positions with optional ordering overrides. It also provides information on specifying buffer sizes and warns about the impact of locale settings on sort order, recommending LC_ALL=C for traditional byte-value sorting. The section concludes with author information, bug reporting instructions, copyright details, and related utilities like shuf(1) and uniq(1).