Bash sort Command - Sort Lines of Text Files

The sort command is used to sort lines of text files.

It's a handy tool for organizing data in files.

To sort a file, use sort filename :

The sort command has options to change how it works:

• -r - Sort in reverse order
• -n - Sort numbers correctly
• -k - Sort by a specific column
• -u - Remove duplicate lines
• -t - Specify a delimiter for fields

The -r option allows you to sort in reverse order.

Without this option, sort arranges lines in ascending order.

The -t option specifies a delimiter for fields, which is useful for sorting files with a specific field separator.

Without this option, sort assumes whitespace as the default delimiter.

This example also uses -k to sort by the second column.

The -k option allows you to sort by a specific column.

Without this option, sort uses the entire line as the key.

The -n option allows you to sort numbers correctly.

Without this option, numbers are sorted lexicographically, meaning "10" would come before "2".

The -u option removes duplicate lines from the output. Without this option, duplicate lines are retained.

Sort can perform complex sorting tasks. For example, sort -t "," -k1,1 -k2,2r fruits.txt sorts by the first column, and then by the second column in reverse order.