Re: RFC: add'l 'sort -n' options

[Matthew Woehlke]

Paul Eggert wrote:
> Matthew Woehlke writes:
> > Paul Eggert wrote:
> > > Matthew Woehlke writes:
> > > > Paul Eggert wrote:
> > > > > Matthew Woehlke writes:
> > > > > > '-N _options_, --numeric-sort=_options_'
> > > > > The other sort options can be attached to -k; how would this work
> > > > > here?
> > > > Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this comment. What
> > > > would be attached to -k, and how?
> > > For example, "sort -k2,2n -k3,3g" says sort numerically in column 2,
> > > breaking ties with a general numeric sort in column 3.
> > Ok, but how would I sort these?
> >
> > 2006-11-06 13:20:15
> > 2006-11-05 12:18:04
> > 2006-11-06 13:20:37
> > 2005-04-01 01:01:01
> >
> > ...see where the number of args to '-k' quickly gets out of hand?
>
> Sure, but my point was not that the new options can be implemented
> with -k.  It is that there needs to be some way to attach the new
> options to particular keys.  That is, one would like to sort with
> your new -Nr option just on these two keys, and then sort with
> some other options on other keys.

Ok, I get it... sorry for the confusion. IOW it needs to be recognized 
both on its own and by -k. Now that I understand what you're saying, I 
am in total agreement. :-)

Since it seems we've mostly shot down the -N idea in favor of explicit 
options (which is fine!), the mechanics from the user's perspective 
should be straight-forward. As mentioned previously, I think we went 
from '-N <lots of stuff>' to '-r', '-h' (maybe do block size only via 
long-opt '-h'), and '-b/-B' (not sure which I prefer case-wise). 
Additionally, although all of these affect numeric sort (the reason for 
'-N' in the first place), they are all orthogonal to each other :-).

> > This brings up another question I should probably ask; are digits > 9
> > case-sensitive?
>
> I don't see why they would be.
>
> I suppose you could add an option to let the user specify the spelling
> of the digits, but perhaps this is overkill.

Agreed, at least until someone asks for it. :-) Like I said, I'm just 
gathering information at this stage so I don't do wrong/extra work when 
I start thinking about code.

Thanks again for the feedback!

--
Matthew
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