[Linux-users] Sort Question

[Ben Duncan]

Actually, you can use several of the SORT options:

sort -t? +xn

Where -t? is the "delimter" to use , so if you want to break the
sort apart by colons, it would be -t:

and +xn is which fields you want to use so if you want to sort
by the second and fifth fields, use

sort +2n +5n -t:

which says sort on the second by NUMERIC and the fifth by numeric.
Now if you wanted to sort the second ALPHA and the fifth numeric,
use:

sort +2 +5n -t:

Hope this helps ...

sean at csupport.com wrote:
> The sort command sorts lines of text.  So, in your example, it is doing
> exactly what you told it to do.  You need to break each line into its
> parts and sort that.  Try something like:
> 
> 
<SNIP>
-- 
Ben Duncan - Business Network Solutions, Inc. 336 Elton Road  Jackson MS, 39212
"Never attribute to malice, that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"
        - Hanlon's Razor