Background

When reading sample code and I see the following command

sort -k1,1 -n | cut -f2- -d' '

I be like hold up, wait a minute.

Data Files

Person.txt

john                smith               jsmith@nobody.com             los angeles         CA        90001
larry               summers             lsummers@treasury.gov         new york-city       NY        10001
twilla              jacobs              tjacobs@cincy.com             cincinnati          OH        45201
andy                johnson             ajohnson@yahoo.com            miami               FL        33101
tanya               wilson              twilson@gmail.com             philadephia         PA        19019

Image

Metadata

Sorting

Sort Command

OS Platform – Win OS

Parameters

Syntax

sort /+<N> [column-begin]

Sample

Sample – Sort By Email Address

Command

sort /+41 c:\temp\person.txt

Image

Sample – Sort By City

Command

sort /+71 c:\temp\person.txt

Image

OS Platform – Linux

Parameters

Syntax

Syntax

sort -k1.[column-begin],1.[column-end] [file]

Sample

Sample – Sort By Email Address

Command

sort -k1.41,1.70 /c/temp/person.txt

Image

Sample – Sort By City

Command

sort -k1.71,1.90 /c/temp/person.txt

Image

 

Sample – Sort By Postal Code

Command

sort -nk1.101,1.110 --debug /c/temp/person.txt

Image

 

Explanation

1. Sorted by postal Code
   • -n
     • Numeric Data
   • -k
     • column position begin and end
       • Column position 101-110
   • –debug
     • Place an underline underneath the ordering column

Source Code

GitHub

Gist

Link

References

MS Windows

Reference

1. Microsoft
   • Microsoft | Docs
     • Docs / Windows Server / Windows Commands / Reference
       • Sort
         Link

Linux

Reference

1. man7.org
   • Linux \ man-pages
     • sort(1) — Linux manual page
       Link

Sample

1. Stack Overflow
   • Forcing a Linux Sort to Treat a Record With Spaces as a Single Data Column
     Link
2.  GeeksforGeeks
   • SORT command in Linux/Unix with examples
     Link
3. Unix.Com
   • Unix and Linux Forums
     • Rohon & Scott
       • Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting sorting a fixed width seq file
         Link
     • jim mcnamara
       • Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting sort by based on multiple columns
         Link

Summary

The Linux Sort command is supremely much more versatile than its MS Windows counterpart.

For instance, the Linux Sort command supports sorting by column number, whereas the corresponding MS Windows command only supports absolute specific column position.

 

Dedication

Dedicating to the WSL team at MSFT.