Re: Possible bug in sort utility

[Paul Eggert]

On 2005-08-12 "Tal V." <address@hidden> writes:

> When I sort a file by the second character in first field I have to
> refer to the second character as to character number "1" (command
> "sort 0.1 filename").

That can't be the syntax that you actually used.  Perhaps your email
client lopped off some characters?  You need to use a syntax like
"sort -k 1.2,1,2 filename".

> But when I want to sort a file by the second character in second (or higher)
> field I need to refer to the second character as to character number "2"
> (command "sort 1.2 filename").

Again, this can't be the syntax you were actually using.

In trying to decipher your email, my guess is that most likely you
need to use sort's -b option; you might try reading up on how it works
and why it's needed.