Linux "sort" Command Line Options and Examples

sort lines of text files

Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output. With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

Usage:

sort [OPTION]... [FILE]... sort [OPTION]... --files0-from=F

Related Commands

shuf
uniq

Command Line Options:

-b

ignore leading blanks


                            sort -b ...

-d

consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters


                            sort -d ...

-f

fold lower case to upper case characters


                            sort -f ...

-g

compare according to general numerical value


                            sort -g ...

-i

consider only printable characters


                            sort -i ...

-M

compare (unknown) < 'JAN' < ... < 'DEC'


                            sort -M ...

-h

compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)


                            sort -h ...

-n

compare according to string numerical value


                            sort -n ...

-R

shuffle, but group identical keys. See shuf(1)


                            sort -R ...

--random-source

get random bytes from FILE


                            sort --random-source ...

-r

reverse the result of comparisons


                            sort -r ...

--sort

sort according to WORD: general-numeric -g, human-numeric -h, month -M, numeric -n, random -R, version


                            sort --sort ...

-V

natural sort of (version) numbers within textOther options:


                            sort -V ...

--batch-size

merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files


                            sort --batch-size ...

-c

check for sorted input; do not sort


                            sort -c ...

-C

like -c, but do not report first bad line


                            sort -C ...

--compress-program

compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG -d


                            sort --compress-program ...

--debug

annotate the part of the line used to sort, and warn about questionable usage to stderr


                            sort --debug ...

--files0-from

read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If F is - then read names fromstandard input


                            sort --files0-from ...

-k

sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type


                            sort -k ...

-m

merge already sorted files; do not sort


                            sort -m ...

-o

write result to FILE instead of standard output


                            sort -o ...

-s

stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison


                            sort -s ...

-S

use SIZE for main memory buffer


                            sort -S ...

-t

use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition


                            sort -t ...

-T

use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp; multiple options specify multiple directories


                            sort -T ...

--parallel

change the number of sorts run concurrently to N


                            sort --parallel ...

-u

with -c, check for strict ordering; without -c, output only the first of an equal run


                            sort -u ...

-z

line delimiter is NUL, not newline


                            sort -z ...

--help

display this help and exit


                            sort --help ...

--version

output version information and exitKEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number and C a characterposition in the field; both are origin 1, and the stop position defaults to the line's end. If neither -t nor


                            sort --version ...