.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.012.
.TH SORT "1" "August 1999" "GNU textutils 2.0" FSF
.SH NAME
sort \- sort lines of text files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B sort
[\fIOPTION\fR]... [\fIFILE\fR]...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.\" Add any additional description here
.PP
Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.
.TP
+POS1 [-POS2]
start a key at POS1, end it *before* POS2 (obsolescent)
.IP
field numbers and character offsets are numbered
starting with zero (contrast with the \fB\-k\fR option)
.TP
\fB\-b\fR
ignore leading blanks in sort fields or keys
.TP
\fB\-c\fR
check if given files already sorted, do not sort
.TP
\fB\-d\fR
consider only [a-zA-Z0-9 ] characters in keys
.TP
\fB\-f\fR
fold lower case to upper case characters in keys
.TP
\fB\-g\fR
compare according to general numerical value, imply \fB\-b\fR
.TP
\fB\-i\fR
consider only [\040-\0176] characters in keys
.TP
\fB\-k\fR POS1[,POS2]
start a key at POS1, end it *at* POS2
.IP
field numbers and character offsets are numbered
starting with one (contrast with zero-based +POS form)
.TP
\fB\-m\fR
merge already sorted files, do not sort
.TP
\fB\-M\fR
compare (unknown) < `JAN' < ... < `DEC', imply \fB\-b\fR
.TP
\fB\-n\fR
compare according to string numerical value, imply \fB\-b\fR
.TP
\fB\-o\fR FILE
write result on FILE instead of standard output
.TP
\fB\-r\fR
reverse the result of comparisons
.TP
\fB\-s\fR
stabilize sort by disabling last resort comparison
.TP
\fB\-t\fR SEP
use SEParator instead of non- to whitespace transition
.TP
\fB\-T\fR DIRECTORY
use DIRECTORY for temporary files, not $TMPDIR or /tmp
.TP
\fB\-u\fR
with \fB\-c\fR, check for strict ordering;
with \fB\-m\fR, only output the first of an equal sequence
.TP
\fB\-z\fR
end lines with 0 byte, not newline, for find \fB\-print0\fR
.TP
\fB\-\-help\fR
display this help and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.PP
POS is F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position
in the field, both counted from one with \fB\-k\fR, from zero with the obsolescent
form.  OPTS is made up of one or more of Mbdfinr; this effectively disables
global \fB\-Mbdfinr\fR settings for that key.  If no key is given, use the entire
line as the key.  With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to <bug-textutils@gnu.org>.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
The full documentation for
.B sort
is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the
.B info
and
.B sort
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info sort
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.br
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.