Re: Sort Bug

[Paul Eggert]

I don't get the results that you do.  What is the output of the following
commands on your host?

sort --version
locale


address@hidden writes:

> address@hidden>ls -l | sort -k 5
> total 3165056
> -rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users         678 Jul 10 15:15 
> rejected_tms_inbox.dmp.gz
> -rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users         840 Jul 21 13:50 161examples.dmp.gz
> -rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users        2446 Aug 14 13:32 prob.dmp.gz

That's not what sort -k 5 is supposed to do.  It's supposed to sort
lexicographically, so the proper order for the 1st four lines is:

total 3165056
-rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users        2446 Aug 14 13:32 prob.dmp.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users         678 Jul 10 15:15 
rejected_tms_inbox.dmp.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 robertd  users         840 Jul 21 13:50 161examples.dmp.gz

because 2446 lexicographically precedes 678 (because "2" precendes "6").

You probably want "sort -k 5n" or something like that.  However, it's still
worrisome that "sort -k 5" doesn't work as it should.