[PATCH] doc: update the description of sort -b and -k (original) (raw)

[Top][All Lists]

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Updates and clarifications to sort --key and sort -b info

cheers, Pádraig.

From 40fb295c23658596931684c50f34bd21cbd6f7f7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: =?utf-8?q?P=C3=A1draig=20Brady?= <address@hidden> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 15:07:19 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] doc: update the description of sort -b and -k

• doc/coreutils.texi (sort invocation): Mention in the -b description that the locale can also affect whether blanks are significant. Update the list of ordering options for a --key that cause it to not inherit any global ordering options. Update the list of ordering options that implicitly skip whitespace.

doc/coreutils.texi | 16 +++++++++------- 1 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi index 8d248d9..61361ab 100644 --- a/doc/coreutils.texi +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi @@ -3723,7 +3723,9 @@ so portable shell scripts should specify global options first. @vindex LC_CTYPE Ignore leading blanks when finding sort keys in each line. By default a blank is a space or a tab, but the @env{LC_CTYPE} locale -can change this. +can change this. Note blanks may be ignored by your locale's collating +rules, but without this option they will be significant for character +positions specified in keys with the @option{-k} option. @item -d @itemx --dictionary-order @@ -3933,7 +3935,7 @@ according to different rules; see below for details.
Keys can span multiple fields. Example: To sort on the second field, use @option{--key=2,2} -(@option{-k 2,2}). See below for more examples. +(@option{-k 2,2}). See below for more notes on keys and more examples. @item address@hidden @opindex --batch-size @@ -4102,15 +4104,15 @@ affect the meaning of character positions in field specifications in obscure cases. The only fix is to add an explicit @option{-b}. A position in a sort field specified with @option{-k} may have any -of the option letters @samp{Mbdfinr} appended to it, in which case the -global ordering options are not used for that particular field. The +of the option letters @samp{MbdfghinRrV} appended to it, in which case no +global ordering options are inherited by that particular field. The @option{-b} option may be independently attached to either or both of the start and end positions of a field specification, and if it is inherited from the global options it will be attached to both. If input lines can contain leading or adjacent blanks and @option{-t} -is not used, then @option{-k} is typically combined with @option{-b}, address@hidden, @option{-M}, or @option{-n}; otherwise the varying -numbers of leading blanks in fields can cause confusing results. +is not used, then @option{-k} is typically combined with @option{-b} or +an option that implicitly ignores leading blanks (@samp{MghnV}) as otherwise +the varying numbers of leading blanks in fields can cause confusing results. If the start position in a sort field specifier falls after the end of the line or after the end field, the field is empty. If the @option{-b}

1.6.2.5

• [PATCH] doc: update the description of sort -b and -k,Pádraig Brady <=

• Prev by Date:Re: Will the 'sync' system call cause system crashe
• Next by Date:add "min" and "max" to coreutils?
• Previous by thread:Re: README-prereq update
• Next by thread:add "min" and "max" to coreutils?
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread