# sort

## NAME



           sort - sort lines of text files
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **sort**[_OPTION_]... [_FILE_]...
           **sort**[_OPTION_]... _--files0-from=F_
    


## DESCRIPTION



           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.  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'
    
           **-h** , **--human-numeric-sort**
                  compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)
    
           **-n** , **--numeric-sort**
                  compare according to string numerical value; see full
                  documentation for supported strings
    
           **-R** , **--random-sort**
                  shuffle, but group identical keys.  See shuf(1)
    
           **--random-source** =_FILE_
                  get random bytes from FILE
    
           **-r** , **--reverse**
                  reverse the result of comparisons
    
           **--sort** =_WORD_
                  sort according to WORD: general-numeric **-g** , human-numeric
                  **-h** , month **-M** , numeric **-n** , random **-R** , version **-V**
    
           **-V** , **--version-sort**
                  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
                  questionable 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**
                  output only the first of lines with equal keys; with **-c** ,
                  check for strict ordering
    
           **-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 origin 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 beginning of the preceding whitespace.  OPTS is
           one or more single-letter ordering 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, R, Q.
    
           *** 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.
    


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