DECORATE(1) User Commands DECORATE(1)

decorate - convert fields of various formats

decorate [OPTION]... [INPUT]
decorate --decorate [OPTION]... [INPUT]
decorate --undecorate N [OPTION]... [INPUT]

Converts (and optionally sorts) fields of various formats

With --decorate: adds the converted fields to the start of each line and prints and prints it to STDOUT; does not sort.

With --undecorate: removes the first N fields from the input; Use as post-processing step after sort(1).

Without --decorate and --undecorate: automatically decorates the input, runs sort(1) and undecorates the result; This is the easiest method to use. The decorate program allows sorting input according to various ordering, e.g. IP addresses, roman numerals, etc. It works in tandem with sort(1) to perform the actual sorting.

The idea was suggested by Pádraig Brady in https://lists.gnu.org/r/bug-coreutils/2015-06/msg00076.html:

1. Decorate: convert the input to a sortable-format as additional fields
2. Sort according to the inserted fields
3. Undecorate: remove the inserted fields

decorate/convert the specified fields and print the output to STDOUT. Does not automatically run sort(1) or undecorates the output
does not decorate or sort the first N lines
same as --header=N
key/field to sort; same syntax as sort(1), optionally followed by ':method' to convert to the field into a sortable value; see examples and available conversion below
use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition
print adjusted parameters for sort(1); Useful when using --decorate and then manually running sort(1)
removes the first N fields
line delimiter is NUL, not newline
Alternative sort(1) to use.
display this help and exit
output version information and exit

The following options are passed to sort as-is (Most of them assume GNU sort):

-c, --check

--compress-program

--random-source

-s, --stable

--batch-size

-S, --buffer-size

-T, --temporary-directory

-u, --unique

--parallel

Available conversions methods (use with -k):

copy as-is
roman numerals
length (in bytes) of the specified field
dotted-decimal IPv4 addresses
IPv6 addresses
number-and-dots IPv4 addresses (incl. octal, hex values)
IPv6 and IPv4 (as IPv4-Mapped IPv6) addresses
IPv6 and IPv4 (as IPv4-Compatible IPv6) addresses

Example of preparing to sort by roman numerals:

$ printf "%s\n" C V III IX XI | decorate -k1,1:roman --decorate
0000100 C
0000005 V
0000003 III
0000009 IX
0000011 XI

The output can now be sent to sort(1), followed by removing (=undecorate) the first field.

$ printf "%s\n" C V III IX XI \
       | decorate -k1,1:roman --decorate \
       | sort -k1,1 \
       | decorate --undecorate 1
III
V
IX
XI
C

decorate(1) can automatically combine the decorate-sort-undecorate steps (when run without --decorate or --undecorate):

$ printf "%s\n" C V III IX XI | decorate -k1,1:roman
III
V
IX
XI
C

See GNU Datamash Website (https://www.gnu.org/software/datamash)

Written by Assaf Gordon, Shawn Wagner and Erik Auerswald.

Copyright © 2022 Assaf Gordon License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

The full documentation for decorate is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and decorate programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info decorate

should give you access to the complete manual.

July 2022 decorate 1.8-dirty