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sort utility on the command line

sort utility on the command line

Need a free command-line utility to sort a big flat file (>10Mb) on fields at specific position.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 180
Total answers/comments: 2
Guest [Entry]

"Windows comes with a sort utility:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>sort /?
SORT [/R] [/+n] [/M kilobytes] [/L locale] [/REC recordbytes]
[[drive1:][path1]filename1] [/T [drive2:][path2]]
[/O [drive3:][path3]filename3]
/+n Specifies the character number, n, to
begin each comparison. /+3 indicates that
each comparison should begin at the 3rd
character in each line. Lines with fewer
than n characters collate before other lines.
By default comparisons start at the first
character in each line.
/L[OCALE] locale Overrides the system default locale with
the specified one. The """"C"""" locale yields
the fastest collating sequence and is
currently the only alternative. The sort
is always case insensitive.
/M[EMORY] kilobytes Specifies amount of main memory to use for
the sort, in kilobytes. The memory size is
always constrained to be a minimum of 160
kilobytes. If the memory size is specified
the exact amount will be used for the sort,
regardless of how much main memory is
available.

The best performance is usually achieved by
not specifying a memory size. By default the
sort will be done with one pass (no temporary
file) if it fits in the default maximum
memory size, otherwise the sort will be done
in two passes (with the partially sorted data
being stored in a temporary file) such that
the amounts of memory used for both the sort
and merge passes are equal. The default
maximum memory size is 90% of available main
memory if both the input and output are
files, and 45% of main memory otherwise.
/REC[ORD_MAXIMUM] characters Specifies the maximum number of characters
in a record (default 4096, maximum 65535).
/R[EVERSE] Reverses the sort order; that is,
sorts Z to A, then 9 to 0.
[drive1:][path1]filename1 Specifies the file to be sorted. If not
specified, the standard input is sorted.
Specifying the input file is faster than
redirecting the same file as standard input.
/T[EMPORARY]
[drive2:][path2] Specifies the path of the directory to hold
the sort's working storage, in case the data
does not fit in main memory. The default is
to use the system temporary directory.
/O[UTPUT]
[drive3:][path3]filename3 Specifies the file where the sorted input is
to be stored. If not specified, the data is
written to the standard output. Specifying
the output file is faster than redirecting
standard output to the same file.

although the ported version (GNU Win32) is much more flexible."
Guest [Entry]

Rather than the windows included sort utility, Powershell Sort-Object CMDlet is much more powerful and flexible, also easy to use.