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Old 04-26-2009, 03:57 PM   #1
zombieite
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Can I use GNU sort to sort one field in order, another in reverse?


My file looks like this:

Ann 6
John 5
Betty 5

I want it to look like this:

Ann 6
Betty 5
John 5

If I use 'sort -r -k2 -k1' or even 'sort -rk2 -k1', I get:

Ann 6
John 5
Betty 5

because it sorts /all/ fields in reverse. I only want to sort k2 (the second field) in reverse, but when I have to sort based on k1 (the first field--that is, when the second field is a tie) I want to sort the first field in order, not reverse order.

Can anyone help? Or is this not possible using GNU sort?
 
Old 04-26-2009, 06:04 PM   #2
sdlor
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Wouldn't just an alphabetical sort give you the desired output??
 
Old 04-26-2009, 06:12 PM   #3
zombieite
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Oh yes, sorry, bad example. Let me try again:

My file looks like this:

Zack 6
John 5
Betty 5

I want it to look like this:

Zack 6
Betty 5
John 5
 
Old 04-26-2009, 07:56 PM   #4
norobro
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From info coreutils 'sort invocation':
Quote:
A position in a sort field specified with `-k' may have any of the
option letters `Mbdfinr' appended to it, in which case the global
ordering options are not used for that particular field.
So this should work:
Code:
sort -k2r -k1
 
Old 04-27-2009, 12:23 AM   #5
zombieite
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That was it! Thank you so much!
 
  


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