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RE: Did the options for the Unix sort command change?
From: |
Michael Alston |
Subject: |
RE: Did the options for the Unix sort command change? |
Date: |
Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:09:36 -0700 |
Jim,
Thx for bringing me into the new millenium.
I kinda liked the 19xx's though ... those years were good to me.
BTW, in my example I meant to state:
% sort +5 myfile
rather than
% sort -5 myfile.
I am reading and learning about the current options to the sort command by
surfing the WWW.
The command is pretty versatile. I didn't realize. May the 20xx's aren't so
bad after all.
Which website does the best job of presenting usage examples for the sort
command, for a non-CS major?
Have a great week!
MikeA
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Meyering [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Mon 8/18/2008 9:35 AM
To: Michael Alston
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: Did the options for the Unix sort command change?
"Michael Alston" <address@hidden> wrote:
> Question:
>
> Did the options for the Unix sort command change?
Yes. Some time ago.
> Why does:
>
> % sort -5 myfile
>
> no longer sort myfile by keying off of column 5?
That precise syntax never worked.
However, syntax like this used to be the norm:
sort +3 -5 myfile
Now, while that is still supported, you usually have to
go through hoops (set the _POSIX2_VERSION envvar to some small number)
to make it work. For details, read "info coreutils standards"
and then the section on sort.