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This article will explain in detail how to use the sort command of the Linux system. The editor thinks it is very practical, so I share it for you as a reference. I hope you can get something after reading this article.

In the Linux system, the function of the sort command is to sort the contents of the text file, use spaces as field separators, and divide a line into multiple keywords.

The syntax sort [- bcdfimMnr] [- o] [- t] [+ -] [--help] [--verison] [file] parameter states:-b ignores the space characters that begin before each line.

-c check whether the files have been sorted in order.

When sorting, ignore other characters except alphabetic, numeric and space characters.

When sorting, lowercase letters are treated as uppercase letters.

When sorting, all characters except ASCII characters between 040 and 176are ignored.

-m merges several sorted files.

-M sorts the first three letters according to the abbreviation of the month.

-n is sorted by the size of the number.

-u means unique (unique), and the output is overweight.

-o saves the sorted results to the specified file.

-r is sorted in reverse order.

-t specifies the field delimiter used for sorting.

+-sorts by the specified field, ranging from the start field to the previous field of the end field.

-help displays help.

-version displays version information.

Case demonstration 1. First we will create a text file (tecmint.txt) for executing the 'sort' command. The working path is'/ home/$USER/Desktop/tecmint'.

The'- e' option in the following command enables'\ 'escape and resolves'\ n' to line feeds

$echo-e "computer\ nmouse\ nLAPTOP\ ndata\ nRedHat\ nlaptop\ ndebian\ nlaptop" > tecmint.txt

Split String by Lines in Linux

2. Before we start learning the 'sort' command, let's take a look at the contents of the file and how it is displayed.

$cat tecmint.txt

Check Content of File

3. Now, sort the contents of the file using the following command.

$sort tecmint.txt

Sort Content of File linux

Note: the above command does not actually sort the contents of the file, but simply outputs its contents in an orderly manner.

4. Sort the contents of the file 'tecmint.txt' file, and output the sorted contents to a file named sorted.txt, and then use the cat command to view and verify the contents of the sorted.txt file.

$sort tecmint.txt > sorted.txt$ cat sorted.txt

Sort File Content in Linux

5. Now use the'- r 'parameter to reverse sort the contents of the' tecmint.txt' file, redirect the output to the 'reversesorted.txt' file, and use the cat command to view the contents of the file.

$sort-r tecmint.txt > reversesorted.txt$ cat reversesorted.txt

Sort Content By Reverse

6. Create a new file (lsl.txt) that contains the output of the'ls-l 'command executed in the home directory.

$ls-l / home/$USER > / home/$USER/Desktop/tecmint/lsl.txt$ cat lsl.txt

Populate Output of Home Directory

We will see examples of sorting other fields instead of the default start character.

7. Sort the file 'lsl.txt' based on the second column (number of symbolic connections).

Note $sort-nk2 lsl.txt: the'- n 'parameter in the above example indicates the sorting of numeric contents. You must use the'- n 'parameter when you want to sort files based on numeric columns in the file.

Sort Content by Column

8. Sort the file 'lsl.txt' based on column 9 (names of files and directories, not numeric values).

$sort-K9 lsl.txt

Sort Content Based on Column

9. The sort command can not only sort the files, but also redirect the output of the command to the sort command through the pipeline.

$ls-l / home/$USER | sort-nk5

Sort Content Using Pipe Option

Sort the file tecmint.txt and delete the duplicate lines. Then check to see if the duplicate row has been deleted.

$cat tecmint.txt$ sort-u tecmint.txt

Sort and Remove Duplicates

The collation we have found so far:

Unless the'- r 'parameter is specified, the priority of the sort is sorted according to the following rules

The row that begins with a number has the highest priority

Lines that begin with lowercase letters take second place.

The contents to be sorted are sorted in dictionary order.

By default, the 'sort' command sorts each line of keywords with sorted content lexicographically as a string (numbers have the highest priority, see rule 1)

Create a third file, 'lsla.txt',' at the current location, and its contents are populated with the output of the'ls-lA' command.

$ls-lA / home/$USER > / home/$USER/Desktop/tecmint/lsla.txt$ cat lsla.txt

Populate Output With Hidden Files

Readers who know the ls command know that'ls-lA' 'equals' ls-l'+ hidden files, so most of the contents of the two files are the same.

12. Sort the contents of the above two files.

$sort lsl.txt lsla.txt

Sort Contents of Two Files

Pay attention to duplication of files and directories

Now let's see how to sort two files, merge them, and delete duplicate lines.

$sort-u lsl.txt lsla.txt

Sort, Merge and Remove Duplicates from File

At this point, we notice that the duplicate lines have been deleted, and we can redirect the output to the file.

We can also sort the contents of the file based on multiple columns. Sorts the output of the'ls-l 'command based on columns 2, 5 (numeric) and 9 (non-numeric).

$ls-l / home/$USER | sort-t ","-nk2,5-K9

This is the end of this article on "how to use sort commands in Linux system". I hope the above content can be of some help to you, so that you can learn more knowledge. if you think the article is good, please share it for more people to see.

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