NAME

     sort - sort a file of ASCII lines


SYNOPSIS

     sort [-bcdfimnru] [-tc]  [-o name] [+pos1] [-pos2] file ...


OPTIONS

     -b   Skip leading blanks when making comparisons

     -c   Check to see if a file is sorted

     -d   Dictionary order: ignore punctuation

     -f   Fold upper case onto lower case

     -i   Ignore nonASCII characters

     -m   Merge presorted files

     -n   Numeric sort order

     -o   Next argument is output file

     -r   Reverse the sort order

     -t   Following character is field separator

     -u   Unique mode (delete duplicate lines)


EXAMPLES

     sort -nr file       # Sort keys numerically, reversed

     sort +2 -4 file     # Sort using fields 2 and 3 as key

     sort +2 -t: -o out  # Field separator is :

     sort +.3 -.6        # Characters 3 through 5 form the key


DESCRIPTION

     Sort sorts one or more files.  If no  files  are  specified,
     stdin  is  sorted.   Output  is  written on standard output,
     unless -o is specified.  The options +pos1  -pos2  use  only
     fields  pos1  up  to but not including pos2 as the sort key,
     where a field is a string of characters delimited by  spaces
     and  tabs,  unless  a different field delimiter is specified
     with -t.  Both pos1 and pos2 have the form m.n where m tells
     the  number  of fields and n tells the number of characters.
     Either m or n may be omitted.


SEE ALSO

     comm(1), grep(1), uniq(1).