Sort question

[pjb]

I have a flat file that needs to be sorted first by positions 23 thru 30, and thn by 68 thru 74. The records do not have any common field delimiters that I can use.

 

[PHV]

You can try something like this:

voidDelim=`echo "\001\c"`
sort -t"$voidDelim" -k 1.23,1.30 -k 1.68,1.74 infile

or if your sort utility don't know the -k option:

sort -t"$voidDelim"  +0.22 -0.29 +0.67 -0.73 infile

Hope This Help
PH.

 

[pjb]

Thanks,

What does the -t option do for me? I get the same results with or without it.

 

[PHV]

-t x : Use x as the field separator character
To sort a file based on columns, use the -t option to specify a
field separator character which does not appear in the input.

Anyway:

man sort

Hope This Help
PH.