GNU bug report logs - #20936
sort: add summary line option

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:28:09 -0700

I admit the ability to show a summary line might not bethe first
thing you'd think a pure-sorting utility might do, but it would be
awfully handy if sort had a 'Numeric sum' option ("-N" -- preferred
'-s', but it's already taken) to go with the -h sorting:

ala:
----
> du -sh *|sort -h|tail
6.0M    firmware
6.7M    kernel
8.4M    tools
26M     net
29M     sound
30M     Documentation
31M     include
37M     fs
128M    arch
330M    drivers

  --- vs. ---

> du -sh *|hsort -s|tail -12
6.0M    firmware
6.7M    kernel
8.4M    tools
26M     net
29M     sound
30M     Documentation
31M     include
37M     fs
128M    arch
330M    drivers
----    -----
649.4M  TOTAL

---
I'd donate the code for hsort, but its in perl --
I wrote it several years ago to do what 'sort -h' does, but
also put in the option for a summary line -- handy companion
for 'human numbers', which would otherwise take alot more
typing (I think -- unless there's some hidden switch I don't know
about).

Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Erik Auerswald <auerswal <at> unix-ag.uni-kl.de>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 09:46:04 +0200

Hi,

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 12:28:09AM -0700, Linda Walsh wrote:
> I admit the ability to show a summary line might not bethe first
> thing you'd think a pure-sorting utility might do, but it would be
> awfully handy if sort had a 'Numeric sum' option ("-N" -- preferred
> '-s', but it's already taken) to go with the -h sorting:
> 
> ala:
> ----
> > du -sh *|sort -h|tail

Why not use 'du -shc * | sort -h | tail -n11'?
The total produced by du will sort after all the individual parts.

Thanks,
Erik

Message #11 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: Erik Auerswald <auerswal <at> unix-ag.uni-kl.de>, bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 02:35:17 -0700

On 6/30/2015 12:46 AM, Erik Auerswald wrote:
>
>>> du -sh *|sort -h|tail
> Why not use 'du -shc * | sort -h | tail -n11'?
> The total produced by du will sort after all the individual parts.
Good idea  -- didn't know about '-c', but two things, 1 troubling,
the other a confusion.  If you have a dir named 'total' it can be 
slightly confusing:

Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -shc * |sort -h|tail
1.5M    sperl,v
3.6M    total
5.0M    total
Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -sh * |hsort -s|tail
1.5M    sperl,v
3.6M    total
----    -----
5.1M    TOTAL

But more a more obvious problem is 'du -shc' seems to be coming up with
the wrong number -- i.e. 1.5+3.6 = 5.1, not 5.0.

In my original example, it's off by more:


Ishtar:linux/linux-4.1.0> du -sch *|sort -h|tail
6.7M    kernel
8.4M    tools
26M     net
29M     sound
30M     Documentation
31M     include
37M     fs
128M    arch
330M    drivers
645M    total
Ishtar:linux/linux-4.1.0> du -sh *|hsort -s|tail
8.4M    tools
26M     net
29M     sound
30M     Documentation
31M     include
37M     fs
128M    arch
330M    drivers
----    -----
649.4M  TOTAL

Message #14 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Erik Auerswald <auerswal <at> unix-ag.uni-kl.de>
To: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
Cc: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 12:51:02 +0200

Hi,

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 02:35:17AM -0700, Linda Walsh wrote:
> 
> On 6/30/2015 12:46 AM, Erik Auerswald wrote:
> >
> >>>du -sh *|sort -h|tail
> >Why not use 'du -shc * | sort -h | tail -n11'?
> >The total produced by du will sort after all the individual parts.
> Good idea  -- didn't know about '-c', but two things, 1 troubling,
> the other a confusion.  If you have a dir named 'total' it can be
> slightly confusing:

You'll always know that the last total is the total of the above. ;-)

> Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -shc * |sort -h|tail
> 1.5M    sperl,v
> 3.6M    total
> 5.0M    total
> Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -sh * |hsort -s|tail
> 1.5M    sperl,v
> 3.6M    total
> ----    -----
> 5.1M    TOTAL
> 
> But more a more obvious problem is 'du -shc' seems to be coming up with
> the wrong number -- i.e. 1.5+3.6 = 5.1, not 5.0.

That are probably rounding errors avoided by du, that hsort cannot avoid
anymore.

Thanks,
Erik

Message #17 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: Erik Auerswald <auerswal <at> unix-ag.uni-kl.de>, bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 08:57:46 -0700

On 6/30/2015 3:51 AM, Erik Auerswald wrote:
>
>> Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -shc * |sort -h|tail
>> 1.5M    sperl,v
>> 3.6M    total
>> 5.0M    total
>> Ishtar:/tmp/dutest> du -sh * |hsort -s|tail
>> 1.5M    sperl,v
>> 3.6M    total
>> ----    -----
>> 5.1M    TOTAL
>>
>> But more a more obvious problem is 'du -shc' seems to be coming up with
>> the wrong number -- i.e. 1.5+3.6 = 5.1, not 5.0.
> That are probably rounding errors avoided by du, that hsort cannot avoid
> anymore.
---
1) I think you're right, but 2) it still looks odd to see 1.5+3.6=5.0 
and not 5.1

Message #20 received at 20936 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>, 20936 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 13:05:38 -0400

Hello,


On 06/30/2015 03:28 AM, Linda Walsh wrote:
> I admit the ability to show a summary line might not bethe first
> thing you'd think a pure-sorting utility might do, but it would be
> awfully handy if sort had a 'Numeric sum' option ("-N" -- preferred
> '-s', but it's already taken) to go with the -h sorting:
>
<...>
>  > du -sh *|sort -h|tail

A slightly different approach would be to defer the "human" size to later,
and enable to do any calculation you want manually, then convert to human sizes with "numfmt":

    du -s * \
       | sort -n \
       | awk '{ sum+=$1 ; print } END { print sum, "Total" }' \
       | numfmt --to=iec

One more thing: instead of 'du -s *', perhaps 'du -d1' would work better (depending on your needs), as it will print sizes used only by directories.

- assaf

Message #23 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stephane Chazelas <stephane.chazelas <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 20:08:39 +0100

2015-06-30 12:51:02 +0200, Erik Auerswald:
[...]
> > But more a more obvious problem is 'du -shc' seems to be coming up with
> > the wrong number -- i.e. 1.5+3.6 = 5.1, not 5.0.
> 
> That are probably rounding errors avoided by du, that hsort cannot avoid
> anymore.
[...]

Also, du -c gives you the cumulative usage (think of hard
links that need to be counted once), not the sum of the above.

-- 
Stephane

Message #26 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stephane Chazelas <stephane.chazelas <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 20:10:54 +0100

2015-06-30 13:05:38 -0400, Assaf Gordon:
[...]
> One more thing: instead of 'du -s *', perhaps 'du -d1' would
> work better (depending on your needs), as it will print sizes
> used only by directories.

Yes, and it will also include hidden files/dirs and won't have
problems with filenames starting with -. Add -a if you also want
non-directory files.

-- 
Stephane

Message #29 received at 20936 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: 20936 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20936: suggestion for a 'wart-ish' extension off of 'sort'
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2018 20:33:07 -0600

severity 20936 wishlist
tags 20936 wontfix
retitle 20936 sort: add summary line option
close 20936
stop

(triaging old bugs)

On 30/06/15 01:10 PM, Stephane Chazelas wrote:
> 2015-06-30 13:05:38 -0400, Assaf Gordon:
> [...]
>> One more thing: instead of 'du -s *', perhaps 'du -d1' would
>> work better (depending on your needs), as it will print sizes
>> used only by directories.
> 
> Yes, and it will also include hidden files/dirs and won't have
> problems with filenames starting with -. Add -a if you also want
> non-directory files.
> 

With no further comments in 3 years, I'm closing this bug.


regards,
 - assaf

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