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sort(1)								       sort(1)

NAME
       sort - sort or merge files

SYNOPSIS
       output] char] keydef] [kmem]] recsz] dir] [file ...]

       char] keydef] [kmem]] recsz] dir] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
       performs one of the following functions:

	      1.  Sorts	 lines	of all the named files together and writes the
		  result to the specified output.

	      2.  Merges lines of all the named (presorted) files together and
		  writes the result to the specified output.

	      3.  Checks that a single input file is correctly presorted.

       The  standard input is read if is used as a file name or no input files
       are specified.

       Comparisons are based on one or more sort keys extracted from each line
       of  input.   By	default, there is one sort key, the entire input line.
       Ordering is lexicographic by characters using the collating sequence of
       the  current  locale.   If the locale is not specified or is set to the
       locale, then ordering is lexicographic by  bytes	 in  machine-collating
       sequence.   If  the  locale includes multi-byte characters, single-byte
       characters are machine-collated before multi-byte characters.

   Behavior Modification Options
       The following options alter the default behavior:

	      Sorts on a byte-by-byte basis  using  each  character's  encoded
	      value.
			  On some systems, extended characters will be consid‐
			  ered negative values, and so sort before ASCII char‐
			  acters.   If	you  are sorting ASCII characters in a
			  non-C/POSIX locale, this flag performs much faster.

	      Check that the single input file	is  sorted  according  to  the
	      ordering rules.
			  No output is produced; the exit code is set to indi‐
			  cate the result.

	      Merge only; the input files are assumed to be already sorted.

	      The argument given is the name of an output file
			  to use instead of the standard  output.   This  file
			  can be the same as one of the input files.

	      Unique: suppress all but one in each
			  set  of  lines  having equal keys.  If used with the
			  option, check to see that there are  no  lines  with
			  duplicate  keys,  in	addition  to checking that the
			  input file is sorted.

	      The amount of main memory used by the sort
			  can have a large impact on its performance.  If this
			  option  is  omitted,	begins	using a system default
			  memory size, and continues  to  use  more  space  as
			  needed.   If	this option is presented with a value,
			  kmem, starts using that number of kilobytes of  mem‐
			  ory, unless the administrative minimum or maximum is
			  violated, in which case the  corresponding  extremum
			  will	be  used.   Thus,  is guaranteed to start with
			  minimum memory.  By convention, (with	 no  argument)
			  starts with maximum memory.

	      The size of the longest line read is recorded
			  in  the  sort phase so that buffers can be allocated
			  during the merge phase.  If the sort phase is	 omit‐
			  ted  via  the	 or  options, a popular system default
			  size will be used.  Lines  longer  than  the	buffer
			  size	will cause to terminate abnormally.  Supplying
			  the actual number of bytes in the longest line to be
			  merged  (or some larger value) will prevent abnormal
			  termination.

	      Use	  dir as the directory	for  temporary	scratch	 files
			  rather  than	the default directory, which is is one
			  of the following, tried in order: the	 directory  as
			  specified in the environment variable; and finally,

   Ordering Rule Options
       When ordering options appear before restricted sort key specifications,
       the ordering rules  are	applied	 globally  to  all  sort  keys.	  When
       attached to a specific sort key (described below), the ordering options
       override all global ordering options for that key.

       The following options override the default ordering rules:

	      Quasi-dictionary order:
			  only alphanumeric characters and blanks (spaces  and
			  tabs),  as defined by are significant in comparisons
			  (see environ(5)).

			  (UNIX Standard only, see standards(5)) The  behavior
			  is  undefined	 for a sort key to which -i or -n also
			  applies.

	      Fold letters.
			  Prior to being compared, all lowercase  letters  are
			  effectively  converted  into their uppercase equiva‐
			  lents, as defined by

	      In non-numeric comparisons, ignore all characters which are non-
	      printable,
			  as  defined  by  For	the ASCII character set, octal
			  character  codes  001	 through  037  and  0177   are
			  ignored.

	      The sort key is restricted to
			  an  initial  numeric	string	consisting of optional
			  blanks, an optional minus sign, zero or more	digits
			  with	optional  radix	 character, and optional thou‐
			  sands separators.  The radix and thousands separator
			  characters  are  defined  by	The field is sorted by
			  arithmetic value.  An empty (missing) numeric	 field
			  is  treated  as  arithmetic zero.  Leading zeros and
			  plus or minus signs  on  zeros  do  not  affect  the
			  ordering.    The  option  implies  the  option  (see
			  below).

	      Reverse the sense of comparisons.

	      Compare as months.
			  The first several non-blank characters of the	 field
			  are  folded to uppercase and compared with the lang‐
			  info(5) items < < ... < An invalid field is  treated
			  as  being  less  than string.	 For example, American
			  month names are compared such that  <	 <  ...	 <  An
			  invalid  field  is  treated  as  being less than all
			  months.  The option implies the option (see below).

   Field Separator Options
       The treatment of field separators can be altered using the options:

	      Use	  char as the field separator character; char  is  not
			  considered to be part of a field (although it can be
			  included in a sort key).  Each occurrence of char is
			  significant  (for  example, <char><char> delimits an
			  empty field).	 If is not specified, <blank>  charac‐
			  ters	will be used as default field separators; each
			  maximal sequence of <blank> characters that  follows
			  a non-<blank> character is a field separator.

	      Ignore leading blanks when determining the starting and ending
			  positions  of	 a restricted sort key.	 If the option
			  is specified before the first option pos1 argument),
			  it  is applied to all options pos1 arguments).  Oth‐
			  erwise, the option can be attached independently  to
			  each	field_start  or	 field_end option pos1 or pos2
			  argument; see below).	 Note that the option is  only
			  effective  when  restricted  sort key specifications
			  are given.

   Restricted Sort Key
	      The	  keydef argument defines a restricted sort key.   The
			  format of this definition is

			       field_start[type][,field_end[type]]

			  which	 defines  a key field beginning at field_start
			  and ending at field_end.  The	 characters  at	 posi‐
			  tions	 field_start and field_end are included in the
			  key field, providing that field_end does not precede
			  field_start.	 A  missing field_end means the end of
			  the line.  Fields and characters within  fields  are
			  numbered  starting  with Note that this is different
			  than the obsolete  form  of  restricted  sort	 keys,
			  where numbering starts at See below.

			  Specifying  field_start  and	field_end involves the
			  notion of a field, a minimal sequence of  characters
			  followed  by	a  field  separator or a new-line.  By
			  default, the first blank of  a  sequence  of	blanks
			  acts	as  the	 field	separator.   All  blanks  in a
			  sequence of blanks are considered to be part of  the
			  next field; for example, all blanks at the beginning
			  of a line are considered to be  part	of  the	 first
			  field.

			  The  arguments  field_start  and field_end each have
			  the form which are optionally	 followed  by  one  or
			  more of the type options or These modifiers have the
			  functionality for this key only, that their command-
			  line counterparts have for the entire record.

			  A  field_start  position specified by is interpreted
			  to mean the nth character in the mth field.  A miss‐
			  ing  n  means	 indicating the first character of the
			  mth field.  If the option is in effect, n is counted
			  from the first non-blank character in the mth field.

			  A  field_end position specified by is interpreted to
			  mean the nth character in the mth field.   If	 n  is
			  missing, the mth field ends at the last character of
			  the field.  If the option is in effect, n is counted
			  from	the  first  non-<blank>	 character  in the mth
			  field.

			  Multiple options are permitted and  are  significant
			  in  command  line order.  A maximum of 9 options can
			  be given.  If no option is specified, a default sort
			  key of the entire line is used.  When there are mul‐
			  tiple sort keys, later keys are compared only	 after
			  all  earlier	keys compare equal.  Lines that other‐
			  wise compare equal are ordered with all  bytes  sig‐
			  nificant.   If all the specified keys compare equal,
			  the entire record is used as the final key.

			  The option is intended to replace the obsolete  pos1
			  pos2]]  notation,  using  field_start	 and field_end
			  respectively.	 The fully specified pos1 pos2]] form:

			       +w.x-y.z

			  is equivalent to:

			       -k w+1.x+1,y.0  (if z == 0)
			       -k w+1.x+1,y+1.z	 (if z > 0)

   Obsolete Restricted Sort Key
       The notation restricts a sort key to one beginning at pos1  and	ending
       at pos2.	 The characters at positions pos1 and pos2 are included in the
       sort key (provided that pos2 does not precede pos1).  A	missing	 means
       the end of the line.

       Specifying  pos1	 and  pos2  involves  the notion of a field, a minimal
       sequence of characters followed by a field separator or a new-line.  By
       default, the first blank (space or tab) of a sequence of blanks acts as
       the field separator.  All blanks in a sequence of blanks are considered
       to  be part of the next field; for example, all blanks at the beginning
       of a line are considered to be part of the first field.

       pos1 and pos2 each have the form optionally followed by one or more  of
       the flags A starting position specified by is interpreted to mean char‐
       acter n+1 in field m+1.	A missing means indicating the first character
       of  field  m+1.	 If the flag is in effect, n is counted from the first
       non-blank in field m+1; refers to  the  first  non-blank	 character  in
       field m+1.

       A  last	position specified by is interpreted to mean the nth character
       (including separators) after the last character of the  mth  field.   A
       missing	means  indicating the last character of the mth field.	If the
       flag is in effect, n is counted from the last leading  blank  in	 field
       m+1; refers to the first non-blank in field m+1.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
       For information about the UNIX standard environment, see standards(5).

   Environment Variables
       determines the default ordering rules applied to the sort.

       determines  the locale for interpretation of sequences of bytes of text
       data as characters (e.g., single- verses multibyte characters in	 argu‐
       ments and input files) and the behavior of character classification for
       the and options.

       determines the definition of the radix and thousands separator  charac‐
       ters for the option.

       determines the month names for the option.

       determines the language in which messages are displayed.

       determines  the	locale	to use to override the values of all the other
       internationalization variables.

       determines the location of message catalogs for the processing of

       provides a default value for the	 internationalization  variables  that
       are  unset  or null. If is unset or null, the default value of "C" (see
       lang(5)) is used.

       If any of the internationalization variables contains an	 invalid  set‐
       ting,  behaves as if all internationalization variables are set to "C".
       See environ(5).

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.

EXAMPLES
       Sort the contents of with the second field as the sort key:

       Sort, in reverse order, the contents of and placing the output  in  and
       using the first two characters of the second field as the sort key:

       Sort,  in  reverse order, the contents of and using the first non-blank
       character of the fourth field as the sort key:

       Print the password file sorted by numeric user ID (the third colon-sep‐
       arated field):

       Print  the  lines  of  the presorted file suppressing all but the first
       occurrence of lines having the same third field:

DIAGNOSTICS
       exits with one of the following values:

	      All input files were output successfully, or
		   was specified and the input file was correctly presorted.

	      Under the
		   option, the file was not ordered as specified,  or  if  the
		   and options were both specified, two input lines were found
		   with equal keys.  This exit status is not returned  if  the
		   option is not used.

	      An  error	 occurred such as when one or more input lines are too
	      long.

       When the last line of an input file is missing  a  new-line  character,
       appends one, prints a warning message, and continues.

       If an error occurs when accessing the tables that contain the collation
       rules for the specified language, prints a warning message and defaults
       to the locale.

       If  a or option is specified for a language with multi-byte characters,
       prints a warning message and ignores the option.

WARNINGS
       Numbering of fields and characters within fields option) has changed to
       conform	to  the	 POSIX	standard.  Beginning at HP-UX Release 9.0, the
       option numbers fields and characters within fields, starting with Prior
       to HP-UX Release 9.0, numbering started at

       A field separator specified by the option is recognized only if it is a
       single-byte character.

       The character type classification categories and are  not  defined  for
       multi-byte  characters.	 For languages with multi-byte characters, all
       characters are significant in comparisons.

       For non-text input files, the behaviour is undefined.

AUTHOR
       was developed by OSF and HP.

FILES
SEE ALSO
       comm(1), join(1), uniq(1), environ(5), lang(5), standards(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
								       sort(1)
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