MS DOS Command: SORT.EXE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Reads input, sorts data, and writes the results to the screen, a file, or another device.

SORT acts as a filter, reading characters in a specified column and rearranging them in ascending or descending order.

Syntax

SORT [/R] [/+n] [<] [drive1:][path1]filename1 [> [drive2:][path2]filename2] [command |] SORT [/R] [/+n] [> [drive2:][path2]filename2]

Parameters

[drive1:][path1]filename1	Specifies the location and name of the file whose data you want to sort.
[drive2:][path2]filename2	Specifies the location and name of a file in which the sorted output is to be stored.
command	Specifies a command whose output is the data you want to sort.

Switches

/R	Reverses the order of the sorting operation; that is, sorts from Z to A, and then from 9 to 0.
/+n	Sorts the file according to the character in column n. If you do not use this switch, the SORT command sorts data according to the characters in column 1.

Related Command

For information about displaying information one screen at a time, see the MORE command.

Remarks

Specifying a source

Unless you specify the command or filename parameter, SORT acts as a filter and takes input from the MS-DOS standard input (usually from the keyboard, from a pipe, or from a file).

Using redirection symbols with SORT

You can use the pipe (|) or the less-than sign (<) to direct data through the SORT command from command or filename. If you want to display the information one screen at a time or direct the information to a file, you can also specify the MORE command or a filename. You can use the greater-than sign (>) to direct the sorted output to a file.

Before using a pipe for redirection, you should set the TEMP environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

Collating sequence

The SORT program uses the collating-sequence table corresponding to the country code and code-page settings. Characters greater than ASCII code 127 are sorted based on information in the COUNTRY.SYS file or in an alternate file specified by the COUNTRY command in your CONFIG.SYS file.

Uppercase vs. lowercase

SORT does not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase letters.

Limits on file size

The SORT command can handle files as large as 64K.

Examples

The following command reads the file EXPENSES.TXT, sorts it in reverse order, and displays it on your screen:

sort /r < expenses.txt

Suppose you want to search a large file named MAILLST.TXT for the text "Jones", and suppose you want to sort the results of the search. To do this, use the pipe (|) to direct the output of a FIND command to the SORT command, as shown in the following example:

find "jones" maillst.txt | sort

The command produces a sorted list of lines that contain the specified text.

To sort keyboard input and display the results alphabetically on the screen, you can first use the SORT command with no parameters, as the following example shows:

SORT

Then type the text you want sorted, pressing ENTER at the end of each line. When you have finished typing text, press CTRL+Z, and then press ENTER. The SORT command displays the text you typed, sorted alphabetically. You could also redirect sorted keyboard input to a file.