Background

Let us sort by column position.

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

Display Text File

Cat Command

OS Platform – Win OS

Not Supported

OS Platform – Linux

Parameters

Syntax

cat -T [file]

Sample

Sample – Cat with -T option

Command

cat -T /c/temp/person_delimited_tab.txt

Output – Image

Explanation

1. Character :- ^I
   • Indicates the tab character

Sort Data File By Column Number

Sort Command

OS Platform – Win OS

Not Supported

OS Platform – Linux

Parameters

Syntax

sort -t [delimiter] -k [column-position]  [file]

Sample

Sample – Sort By Email Address

Command

sort -t$'\t' -b -k 3 /c/temp/person_delimited_tab.txt

Image

Sample – Sort By City

Command

sort -t$'\t' -b -k 4 /c/temp/person_delimited_tab.txt

Image

 

Sample – Sort By Postal Code

Command

sort -t$'\t' -k 6 -n --debug /c/temp/person_delimited_tab.txt

Image

 

Explanation

1. Sorted by postal Code
   • -t
     • $’\t’
     • Delimited by tab
   • -k
     • column position
       • Column position 6
   • -n
     • Numeric Data
   • –debug
     • Place an underline underneath the ordering column

Source Code

GitHub

Gist

file-person_delimited_tab-txt

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
   • Sorting data based on second column of a file
     Link