NAME

       sort - sort lines of text files

SYNOPSIS

       sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
       sort [OPTION]... --files0-from=F

DESCRIPTION

       Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.

       With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

       Mandatory  arguments  to  long  options  are  mandatory  for  short options too.  Ordering
       options:

       -b, --ignore-leading-blanks
              ignore leading blanks

       -d, --dictionary-order
              consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters

       -f, --ignore-case
              fold lower case to upper case characters

       -g, --general-numeric-sort
              compare according to general numerical value

       -i, --ignore-nonprinting
              consider only printable characters

       -M, --month-sort
              compare (unknown) < 'JAN' < ... < 'DEC'

       -h, --human-numeric-sort
              compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)

       -n, --numeric-sort
              compare according to string numerical value

       -R, --random-sort
              shuffle, but group identical keys.  See shuf(1)

       --random-source=FILE
              get random bytes from FILE

       -r, --reverse
              reverse the result of comparisons

       --sort=WORD
              sort according to WORD: general-numeric -g, human-numeric -h, month -M, numeric -n,
              random -R, version -V

       -V, --version-sort
              natural sort of (version) numbers within text

       Other options:

       --batch-size=NMERGE
              merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files

       -c, --check, --check=diagnose-first
              check for sorted input; do not sort

       -C, --check=quiet, --check=silent
              like -c, but do not report first bad line

       --compress-program=PROG
              compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG -d

       --debug
              annotate  the  part  of the line used to sort, and warn about questionable usage to
              stderr

       --files0-from=F
              read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If  F  is  -
              then read names from standard input

       -k, --key=KEYDEF
              sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type

       -m, --merge
              merge already sorted files; do not sort

       -o, --output=FILE
              write result to FILE instead of standard output

       -s, --stable
              stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison

       -S, --buffer-size=SIZE
              use SIZE for main memory buffer

       -t, --field-separator=SEP
              use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition

       -T, --temporary-directory=DIR
              use  DIR  for  temporaries,  not $TMPDIR or /tmp; multiple options specify multiple
              directories

       --parallel=N
              change the number of sorts run concurrently to N

       -u, --unique
              with -c, check for strict ordering; without -c, output only the first of  an  equal
              run

       -z, --zero-terminated
              line delimiter is NUL, not newline

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number
       and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1, and the stop position defaults
       to  the  line's end.  If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are counted
       from the beginning of the  preceding  whitespace.   OPTS  is  one  or  more  single-letter
       ordering  options  [bdfgiMhnRrV], which override global ordering options for that key.  If
       no key is given, use the entire line as the key.  Use --debug to  diagnose  incorrect  key
       usage.

       SIZE may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes: % 1% of memory, b 1, K 1024
       (default), and so on for M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y.

       *** WARNING *** The locale specified by the environment affects sort order.  Set  LC_ALL=C
       to get the traditional sort order that uses native byte values.

AUTHOR

       Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

REPORTING BUGS

       GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report sort translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  ©  2017  Free  Software  Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or
       later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO  WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       shuf(1), uniq(1)

       Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sort>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) sort invocation'