[re-adding the list, for closure on this report]

On 02/28/2011 09:05 AM, Betty J. Barr wrote:
>> Because you are using a locale that regards punctuation as insignificant
>> in collation sequences.
>>
>> See this FAQ, then try 'LC_ALL=C sort ...' to see the difference.
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/#Sort-does-not-sort-in-normal-order_0021

> Thank you. Setting the environment did work. Since I am at the mercy of
> our IT people in terms of versions and updates, it was just a shock when
> something I had used for years did not work.

Glad to hear it.  Yes, it is rather a shock when upgrading a system
changes the default locale to something different than it was before,
with all sorts of knock-on effects that many people are not expecting;
but it's nothing that coreutils can change other than to help teach
people about the effect of locale settings.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake@redhat.com    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org