say I want to sort on column 3, numericaly, reversed order: sort -nu +2 -3 file > files
>From the Coreutils documentation, (coreutils) sort invocation: | On older systems, `sort' supports an obsolete origin-zero syntax | `+POS1 [-POS2]' for specifying sort keys. This obsolete behavior can | be enabled or disabled with the `_POSIX2_VERSION' environment variable | (*note Standards conformance::); it can also be enabled when | `POSIXLY_CORRECT' is not set by using the obsolete syntax with `-POS2' | present. Also, | `-k POS1[,POS2]' | `--key=POS1[,POS2]' | Specify a sort field that consists of the part of the line between | POS1 and POS2 (or the end of the line, if POS2 is omitted), | _inclusive_. | | Each POS has the form `F[.C][OPTS]', where F is the number of the | field to use, and C is the number of the first character from the | beginning of the field. Fields and character positions are | numbered starting with 1; a character position of zero in POS2 | indicates the field's last character. If `.C' is omitted from | POS1, it defaults to 1 (the beginning of the field); if omitted | from POS2, it defaults to 0 (the end of the field). OPTS are | ordering options, allowing individual keys to be sorted according | to different rules; see below for details. Keys can span multiple | fields. | | Example: To sort on the second field, use `--key=2,2' (`-k 2,2'). | See below for more examples. Thus, sort -nurk 3,3 file _______________________________________________ Bug-coreutils mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
