Bash/Linux Sort by 3Rd Column Using Custom Field Seperator

Bash/Linux Sort by 3rd column using custom field seperator

This makes it:

$ sort -t'.' -n -k3 a
output/rtp.0.0.raw
output/rtp.0.1.raw
output/rtp.0.2.raw
output/rtp.0.3.raw
output/rtp.0.4.raw
output/rtp.0.5.raw
output/rtp.0.6.raw
output/rtp.0.7.raw
output/rtp.0.8.raw
output/rtp.0.9.raw
output/rtp.0.10.raw
output/rtp.0.11.raw
output/rtp.0.12.raw
output/rtp.0.13.raw
output/rtp.0.14.raw
output/rtp.0.15.raw
output/rtp.0.16.raw
output/rtp.0.17.raw
output/rtp.0.18.raw
output/rtp.0.19.raw
output/rtp.0.20.raw

As you see we need different options:

• -t'.' to set the dot . as the field separator.
• -n to make it numeric sort.
• -k3 to check the 3rd column.

Update

This also makes it:

$ sort -t'.' -V -k2 a
output/rtp.0.0.raw
output/rtp.0.1.raw
output/rtp.0.2.raw
output/rtp.0.3.raw
output/rtp.0.4.raw
output/rtp.0.5.raw
output/rtp.0.6.raw
output/rtp.0.7.raw
output/rtp.0.8.raw
output/rtp.0.9.raw
output/rtp.0.10.raw
output/rtp.0.11.raw
output/rtp.0.12.raw
output/rtp.0.13.raw
output/rtp.0.14.raw
output/rtp.0.15.raw
output/rtp.0.16.raw
output/rtp.0.17.raw
output/rtp.0.18.raw
output/rtp.0.19.raw
output/rtp.0.20.raw

As you see we need different options:

• -t'.' to set the dot . as the field separator.
• -V to make it sort based on version.
• -k2 to check the 2nd column.

How to sort data by the numbers in third column?

Here you go:

sort -n -k 3 test.txt

From man sort:

-n, --numeric-sort          compare according to string numerical value
-k, --key=KEYDEF          sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type

KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a
field number and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1, and
the stop position defaults to the line's end. If neither -t nor -b is in
effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding
whitespace. OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options [bdfgiMhnRrV],
which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use
the entire line as the key.

and also interesting:

-t, --field-separator=SEP use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition

which tells us that the F fields are separated by whitespace.

Sort a tab delimited file based on column sort command bash

To sort on the fourth column use just the -k 4,4 selector.

sort -t $'\t' -k 4,4 <filename>

You might also want -V which sorts numbers more naturally. For example, yielding 1 2 10 rather than 1 10 2 (lexicographic order).

sort -t $'\t' -k 4,4 -V <filename>

If you're getting errors about the $'\t' then make sure your shell is bash. Perhaps you're missing #!/bin/bash at the top of your script?

Linux shell sort file according to the second column?

If this is UNIX:

sort -k 2 file.txt

You can use multiple -k flags to sort on more than one column. For example, to sort by family name then first name as a tie breaker:

sort -k 2,2 -k 1,1 file.txt

Relevant options from "man sort":

-k, --key=POS1[,POS2]

start a key at POS1, end it at POS2 (origin 1)

POS is F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position in the field. OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options, which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key.

-t, --field-separator=SEP

use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition

Sorting data based on second column of a file

You can use the key option of the sort command, which takes a "field number", so if you wanted the second column:

sort -k2 -n yourfile

-n, --numeric-sort compare according to string numerical value

For example:

$ cat ages.txt 
Bob 12
Jane 48
Mark 3
Tashi 54

$ sort -k2 -n ages.txt 
Mark 3
Bob 12
Jane 48
Tashi 54

unix sort on column without separator

$ sort --key=1.3,1.3 inputfile
pp0dd
aa1bb
aa3ya
ax5aa
fg7ds

man page of sort:

[...]

-k, --key=POS1[,POS2]

start a key at POS1 (origin 1), end it at POS2 (default end of line)

[...]

POS is F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position in the field; both are origin 1. If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace. OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options, which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key.

With --key=1.3,1.3, you said that there only one field (the entire line) and that you're comparing the third character position of this field.

Sorting a tab delimited file

Using bash, this will do the trick:

$ sort -t$'\t' -k3 -nr file.txt

Notice the dollar sign in front of the single-quoted string. You can read about
it in the ANSI-C Quoting sections of the bash man page.

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