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.TH SORT 1 "2026-05-31"
.SH NAME
sort \- Display sorted concatenation of all FILE(s). With no FILE, or when FILE is \-, read standard input.
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBsort\fR [\fB\-\-help\fR] [\fB\-\-version\fR] [\fB\-\-sort\fR] [\fB\-h\fR|\fB\-\-human\-numeric\-sort\fR] [\fB\-M\fR|\fB\-\-month\-sort\fR] [\fB\-n\fR|\fB\-\-numeric\-sort\fR] [\fB\-g\fR|\fB\-\-general\-numeric\-sort\fR] [\fB\-V\fR|\fB\-\-version\-sort\fR] [\fB\-R\fR|\fB\-\-random\-sort\fR] [\fB\-\-random\-source\fR] [\fB\-d\fR|\fB\-\-dictionary\-order\fR] [\fB\-m\fR|\fB\-\-merge\fR] [\fB\-c\fR|\fB\-\-check\fR] [\fB\-C\fR|\fB\-\-check\-silent\fR] [\fB\-f\fR|\fB\-\-ignore\-case\fR] [\fB\-i\fR|\fB\-\-ignore\-nonprinting\fR] [\fB\-b\fR|\fB\-\-ignore\-leading\-blanks\fR] [\fB\-o\fR|\fB\-\-output\fR] [\fB\-r\fR|\fB\-\-reverse\fR] [\fB\-s\fR|\fB\-\-stable\fR] [\fB\-u\fR|\fB\-\-unique\fR] [\fB\-k\fR|\fB\-\-key\fR] [\fB\-t\fR|\fB\-\-field\-separator\fR] [\fB\-z\fR|\fB\-\-zero\-terminated\fR] [\fB\-\-parallel\fR] [\fB\-S\fR|\fB\-\-buffer\-size\fR] [\fB\-T\fR|\fB\-\-temporary\-directory\fR] [\fB\-\-compress\-program\fR] [\fB\-\-batch\-size\fR] [\fB\-\-files0\-from\fR] [\fB\-\-debug\fR] [\fIfiles\fR]
.SH DESCRIPTION
Display sorted concatenation of all FILE(s). With no FILE, or when FILE is \-, read standard input.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB\-\-help\fR
Print help information.
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
Print version information.
.TP
\fB\-\-sort\fR

\fIPossible values:\fR
.RS 14
.IP \(bu 2
general\-numeric
.IP \(bu 2
human\-numeric
.IP \(bu 2
month
.IP \(bu 2
numeric
.IP \(bu 2
version
.IP \(bu 2
random
.RE
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-human\-numeric\-sort\fR
compare according to human readable sizes, eg 1M > 100k
.TP
\fB\-M\fR, \fB\-\-month\-sort\fR
compare according to month name abbreviation
.TP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-numeric\-sort\fR
compare according to string numerical value
.TP
\fB\-g\fR, \fB\-\-general\-numeric\-sort\fR
compare according to string general numerical value
.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\-sort\fR
Sort by SemVer version number, eg 1.12.2 > 1.1.2
.TP
\fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-random\-sort\fR
shuffle in random order
.TP
\fB\-\-random\-source\fR \fI<FILE>\fR
use FILE as a source of random data
.TP
\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-dictionary\-order\fR
consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters
.TP
\fB\-m\fR, \fB\-\-merge\fR
merge already sorted files; do not sort
.TP
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-check\fR
check for sorted input; do not sort

\fIPossible values:\fR
.RS 14
.IP \(bu 2
silent
.IP \(bu 2
quiet
.IP \(bu 2
diagnose\-first
.RE
.TP
\fB\-C\fR, \fB\-\-check\-silent\fR
exit successfully if the given file is already sorted, and exit with status 1 otherwise.
.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\-case\fR
fold lower case to upper case characters
.TP
\fB\-i\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\-nonprinting\fR
ignore nonprinting characters
.TP
\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-ignore\-leading\-blanks\fR
ignore leading blanks when finding sort keys in each line
.TP
\fB\-o\fR, \fB\-\-output\fR \fI<FILENAME>\fR
write output to FILENAME instead of stdout
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-reverse\fR
reverse the output
.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-stable\fR
stabilize sort by disabling last\-resort comparison
.TP
\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-unique\fR
output only the first of an equal run
.TP
\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-key\fR
sort by a key
.TP
\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-field\-separator\fR
custom separator for \-k
.TP
\fB\-z\fR, \fB\-\-zero\-terminated\fR
line delimiter is NUL, not newline
.TP
\fB\-\-parallel\fR \fI<NUM_THREADS>\fR
change the number of threads running concurrently to NUM_THREADS
.TP
\fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-buffer\-size\fR \fI<SIZE>\fR
sets the maximum SIZE of each segment in number of sorted items
.TP
\fB\-T\fR, \fB\-\-temporary\-directory\fR \fI<DIR>\fR
use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp
.TP
\fB\-\-compress\-program\fR \fI<PROG>\fR
compress temporary files with PROG, decompress with PROG \-d; PROG has to take input from stdin and output to stdout
.TP
\fB\-\-batch\-size\fR \fI<N_MERGE>\fR
Merge at most N_MERGE inputs at once.
.TP
\fB\-\-files0\-from\fR \fI<NUL_FILE>\fR
read input from the files specified by NUL\-terminated NUL_FILE
.TP
\fB\-\-debug\fR
underline the parts of the line that are actually used for sorting
.TP
[\fIfiles\fR]

.SH EXTRA
The key format is FIELD[.CHAR][OPTIONS][,FIELD[.CHAR]][OPTIONS].

Fields by default are separated by the first whitespace after a non\-whitespace character. Use \-t to specify a custom separator.
In the default case, whitespace is appended at the beginning of each field. Custom separators however are not included in fields.

FIELD and CHAR both start at 1 (i.e. they are 1\-indexed). If there is no end specified after a comma, the end will be the end of the line.
If CHAR is set 0, it means the end of the field. CHAR defaults to 1 for the start position and to 0 for the end position.

Valid options are: MbdfhnRrV. They override the global options for this key.
.SH VERSION
v(uutils coreutils) 0.9.0