sort --help
bash
Usage: sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
or: sort [OPTION]... --files0-from=F
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
-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 with -c, check for strict ordering;
without -c, output only the first of an equal run
-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.man sort
bash
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. Order‐
ing 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
-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
with -c, check for strict ordering; without -c, output only the first of
an equal run
-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 white‐
space. 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 en‐
tire 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.