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SORT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

sort - sort lines of text files

SYNOPSIS

sort [,OPTION/]... [,FILE/]...
sort [,OPTION/]... ,-files-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:

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-b'-b, --ignore-leading-blanksX'tty: link': ignore leading blanks when finding sort keys in each line
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-d'-d, --dictionary-orderX'tty: link': consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-f'-f, --ignore-caseX'tty: link': fold lower case to upper case characters
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-g'-g, --general-numeric-sortX'tty: link': compare according to general numerical value
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-i'-i, --ignore-nonprintingX'tty: link': consider only printable characters
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-M'-M, --month-sortX'tty: link': compare (unknown) < 'JAN' < ... < 'DEC'
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-h'-h, --human-numeric-sortX'tty: link': compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-n'-n, --numeric-sortX'tty: link': compare according to string numerical value; see full documentation for supported strings
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-R'-R, --random-sortX'tty: link': shuffle, but group identical keys. See also shuf(1)
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-rando-source'--random-source=FILEX'tty: link': get random bytes from FILE
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-r'-r, --reverseX'tty: link': reverse the result of comparisons
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-sort'--sort=WORDX'tty: link': sort according to WORD: general-numeric -g, human-numeric -h, month -M, numeric -n, random -R, version -V
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-V'-V, --version-sortX'tty: link': natural sort of (version) numbers within text

Other options:

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-batc-size'--batch-size=NMERGEX'tty: link': merge at most NMERGE inputs at once; for more use temp files
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-c'-c, --check, --check=,diagnose-firstX'tty: link'/: check for sorted input; do not sort
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-C'-C, --check=,quiet/, --check=,silentX'tty: link'/: like -c, but do not report first bad line
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-compres-program'--compress-program=PROGX'tty: link': compress temporaries with PROG; decompress them with PROG -d
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-debug'--debugX'tty: link': annotate the part of the line used to sort, and warn about questionable usage to standard error
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-files-from'--files0-from=FX'tty: link': read input from the files specified by NUL-terminated names in file F; If F is -, read names from standard input
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-k'-k, --key=,KEYDEFX'tty: link'/: sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-m'-m, --mergeX'tty: link': merge already sorted files; do not sort
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-o'-o, --output=,FILEX'tty: link'/: write result to FILE instead of standard output
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-s'-s, --stableX'tty: link': stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-S'-S, --buffer-size=,SIZEX'tty: link'/: use SIZE for main memory buffer
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-t'-t, --field-separator=,SEPX'tty: link'/: use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-T'-T, --temporary-directory=,DIRX'tty: link'/: use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or ,/tmp/; multiple options specify multiple directories
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-parallel'--parallel=NX'tty: link': change the number of sorts run concurrently to N
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-u'-u, --uniqueX'tty: link': output only the first of lines with equal keys; with -c, check for strict ordering
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sor-z'-z, --zero-terminatedX'tty: link': line delimiter is NUL, not newline
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sort#sor-help'--helpX'tty: link': display this help and exit
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/sort#sor-version'--versionX'tty: link': 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, R, Q.

*** 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.