From unknown Sun Jun 22 07:34:08 2025 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.509 (Entity 5.509) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 From: bug#23556 <23556@debbugs.gnu.org> To: bug#23556 <23556@debbugs.gnu.org> Subject: Status: sort(1): misleading description of option -n Reply-To: bug#23556 <23556@debbugs.gnu.org> Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2025 14:34:08 +0000 retitle 23556 sort(1): misleading description of option -n reassign 23556 coreutils submitter 23556 Carsten Hey severity 23556 normal thanks From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Mon May 16 14:28:08 2016 Received: (at submit) by debbugs.gnu.org; 16 May 2016 18:28:08 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54245 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NFP-0003cQ-Px for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:28:07 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:54541) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NBD-0003Uz-SP for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:48 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NB7-0001kC-UH for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:42 -0400 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.2 (2011-06-06) on eggs.gnu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50 autolearn=disabled version=3.3.2 Received: from lists.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::11]:57604) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NB7-0001k4-RI for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:41 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:45479) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NB6-0000yR-Pv for bug-coreutils@gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:41 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NB2-0001iD-8A for bug-coreutils@gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:39 -0400 Received: from bosko.stateful.de ([88.198.38.227]:36924) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1b2NB2-0001hq-1S for bug-coreutils@gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 14:23:36 -0400 Received: by bosko.stateful.de (Postfix, from userid 1006) id 279712016B; Sat, 14 May 2016 16:17:37 +0200 (CEST) Date: Sat, 14 May 2016 16:17:35 +0200 From: Carsten Hey To: bug-coreutils@gnu.org Subject: sort(1): misleading description of option -n Message-ID: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 3.x X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6.x X-Received-From: 2001:4830:134:3::11 X-Spam-Score: -5.0 (-----) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: submit X-Mailman-Approved-At: Mon, 16 May 2016 14:28:06 -0400 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -5.0 (-----) Hi, the man page sort(1) contains a misleading description of the option -n: $ lsb_release -ic Distributor ID: Debian Codename: jessie $ sort --version | sed -n 1p sort (GNU coreutils) 8.23 $ man sort | grep -A1 -- --numeric-sort | sed -n -e 's/^ *//' -e '1!p= ' compare according to string numerical value According to Ubuntu's web page, this string is also in their package coreutils_8.25-2ubuntu2_i386. This description reads as if this command: $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -n x 10 x 9 =E2=80=A6 would produce the output of this command: $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -V x 9 x 10 =E2=80=A6, but instead, -n stops doing its magic after finding the first non-numeric, non-whitespace character. There is a short and simple way to summarize this behaviour. If you use Cyanogenmod on your mobile phone, you carry a minor programming error in your pocket that is very likely caused by this misleading description of -n. Regards Carsten From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Mon May 16 15:08:08 2016 Received: (at 23556) by debbugs.gnu.org; 16 May 2016 19:08:08 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54350 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2Ns8-0008E0-JR for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 15:08:08 -0400 Received: from mail-qg0-f52.google.com ([209.85.192.52]:34316) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2Ns6-0008DZ-Ql for 23556@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 15:08:07 -0400 Received: by mail-qg0-f52.google.com with SMTP id 90so94137169qgz.1 for <23556@debbugs.gnu.org>; Mon, 16 May 2016 12:08:06 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=subject:to:references:from:message-id:date:user-agent:mime-version :in-reply-to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=HQdHdNcqvagbn+x8VUfVh5L2Kn5yBMV3h31OQJ0fifY=; b=N6FqYq2uKO+DSw5lezdT+nsdml6i8USWRPGoEkYJCQsNsm5J5usY76hZIIGO8ILMd4 YsGyvmKM1EMTiIVNVccoacK7s1rkts1e2bW+yB9l69hcnKRSM8/kG4rPriNgBawu2XLx cAzhYlYqy4Ve5iBGHNyyM+W+YEPtqvddir0aAJ1cDbn2XqNCqqMMn7YwDCVrsL8yMOx6 t7ClPwspn7n1fi6caY+SqwQ622h8+ZBTlXgg7szHmENHAecZGTJ6+BJ4tuG2K87QLrlO +zmkrm89ethYz5FKafzGMUzhNIhrm3zegybKfO5vGN6WEjycNFL5iIOVc9zXYwe1cq/5 ljvg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:subject:to:references:from:message-id:date :user-agent:mime-version:in-reply-to:content-transfer-encoding; bh=HQdHdNcqvagbn+x8VUfVh5L2Kn5yBMV3h31OQJ0fifY=; b=S/4ak9qStEtfuGDAsln+93rFj8V3lSgTLhRlk8OhRFk22P4v6Tzax3bb06Fq6O/ybJ 7+cnjks3bAdxGzLOjHFkItSCUzZxin8mCwRVC7P9f1b+Yylyau947w9MtWGk9s2q5Pci JVZOCzRvYLjBQ06MSM7HgPOhPXiRrudPN9iPukY35Wi9AC90Xpshhjo7ZAkck1or4ckH sL8FGDFtGioOxyfIms0gnF5zFF/qM6kcnk+VhjZQY9vZjVFaZzirqDzXZU1eeVy1vbJb SXb/VHCxnms/2DUhwvEZ8LyXkk3bUFxB8vwLxTytLuBI0d0DLaOm/moYA8Y7Rnhn0gs9 MR1A== X-Gm-Message-State: AOPr4FXURkggeqK1vlhkbm/2nNQ+6ENWw7qg8TAyGyLEgkur2GGbUwCZnXZEQimIHrLEQA== X-Received: by 10.140.199.8 with SMTP id u8mr32097910qha.5.1463425681222; Mon, 16 May 2016 12:08:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from disco.erlich.nygenome.org ([69.74.14.178]) by smtp.googlemail.com with ESMTPSA id u78sm7722090qku.31.2016.05.16.12.08.00 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Mon, 16 May 2016 12:08:00 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: bug#23556: sort(1): misleading description of option -n To: Carsten Hey , 23556@debbugs.gnu.org References: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> From: Assaf Gordon Message-ID: <573A1A8F.9020702@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 15:07:59 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.7.2 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Spam-Score: -0.7 (/) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 23556 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -0.7 (/) Hello Carsten, On 05/14/2016 10:17 AM, Carsten Hey wrote: > the man page sort(1) contains a misleading description of the option -n: [...] > > $ man sort | grep -A1 -- --numeric-sort | sed -n -e 's/^ *//' -e '1!p' > compare according to string numerical value [...] > This description reads as if this command: > > $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -n > x 10 > x 9 [...] > but instead, -n stops doing its magic after finding the first > non-numeric, non-whitespace character. There is a short and simple > way to summarize this behaviour. IIUC, you are disputing the accuracy (or clarity) of the term "string numerical value" on the manual page, and not the actual behavior of "sort -n" (which is mandated by posix and has been this way for many many years, as opposed to "sort -V" which was only introduced as GNU extension in coreutils version 7.0 in 2008). The description says "string numeric value" - which (to me) does not mean anything other than numeric value (implying letters will not be sorted properly), but opinions clearly differ. Using the "--debug" option would immediately reveal the error: $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort --debug -n sort: using ‘en_US.UTF-8’ sorting rules x 10 ^ no match for key ____ x 9 ^ no match for key ___ If you have a suggestion for improved wording, I'm sure they can be considered for inclusion. A patch against function usage() in sort.c would go even a longer way. note that unlike FreeBSD/OpenBSD, the description in the man page is derived from "sort --help", and thus kept brief. For completeness, here are similar descriptions of "sort -n" from other sources: POSIX says (http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/sort.html): -n Restrict the sort key to an initial numeric string, consisting of optional characters, optional minus-sign, and zero or more digits with an optional radix character and thousands separators (as defined in the current locale), which shall be sorted by arithmetic value. An empty digit string shall be treated as zero. Leading zeros and signs on zeros shall not affect ordering. The GNU Coreutils manual (which is the official documentation, not the man page) says: (http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#sort-invocation) -n --numeric-sort --sort=numeric Sort numerically. The number begins each line and consists of optional blanks, an optional ‘-’ sign, and zero or more digits possibly separated by thousands separators, optionally followed by a decimal-point character and zero or more digits. An empty number is treated as ‘0’. The LC_NUMERIC locale specifies the decimal-point character and thousands separator. By default a blank is a space or a tab, but the LC_CTYPE locale can change this. OpenBSD's man page has: -n, --numeric-sort, --sort=numeric An initial numeric string, consisting of optional blank space, optional minus sign, and zero or more digits (including decimal point) is sorted by arithmetic value. Leading blank characters are ignored. FreeBSD's man page has: -n, --numeric-sort, --sort=numeric Sort fields numerically by arithmetic value. Fields are supposed to have optional blanks in the beginning, an optional minus sign, zero or more digits (including decimal point and possible thou- sand separators). I'm leaving the bug open, other comments and feedback welcomed. regards, - assaf From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Mon May 16 15:35:58 2016 Received: (at 23556) by debbugs.gnu.org; 16 May 2016 19:35:58 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54410 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2OJ4-0000V5-ER for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 15:35:58 -0400 Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:60083) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2OJ1-0000Ur-K5 for 23556@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 15:35:56 -0400 Received: from int-mx14.intmail.prod.int.phx2.redhat.com (int-mx14.intmail.prod.int.phx2.redhat.com [10.5.11.27]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4EB4980E6A; Mon, 16 May 2016 19:35:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [10.3.116.47] (ovpn-116-47.phx2.redhat.com [10.3.116.47]) by int-mx14.intmail.prod.int.phx2.redhat.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id u4GJZmgr008059; Mon, 16 May 2016 15:35:49 -0400 Subject: Re: bug#23556: sort(1): misleading description of option -n To: Carsten Hey , 23556@debbugs.gnu.org References: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> From: Eric Blake Openpgp: url=http://people.redhat.com/eblake/eblake.gpg X-Enigmail-Draft-Status: N1110 Organization: Red Hat, Inc. Message-ID: <573A2114.8020009@redhat.com> Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 13:35:48 -0600 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.3.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="c9H4II1HEeEOJ45qkaeueBCfsWObe7l7J" X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.68 on 10.5.11.27 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.5.16 (mx1.redhat.com [10.5.110.25]); Mon, 16 May 2016 19:35:49 +0000 (UTC) X-Spam-Score: -6.4 (------) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 23556 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -6.4 (------) This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 4880 and 3156) --c9H4II1HEeEOJ45qkaeueBCfsWObe7l7J Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 05/14/2016 08:17 AM, Carsten Hey wrote: > Hi, >=20 > the man page sort(1) contains a misleading description of the option -n= : > compare according to string numerical value That sounds accurate to me, although as Assaf pointed out, suggested wording improvements are welcome. > $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -n > x 10 > x 9 The numerical value of "x 10" (that is, the equivalent to the value of atoi("x 10")), is "0". To check: $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' '1' '-1' | sort -n -1 x 10 x 9 1 If you want to sort by the second column only, then use: $ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -n -k 2,2 x 9 x 10 That is, by adding the -k option, you can limit the text being sorted to the portion of the line containing the numerical value, rather than the entire line, so as to avoid a numerical value of 0 when hitting a non-numeric portion of the line. > =E2=80=A6, but instead, -n stops doing its magic after finding the firs= t > non-numeric, non-whitespace character. Because that is how it has always behaved, and how POSIX requires it to behave. http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/sort.html --=20 Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org --c9H4II1HEeEOJ45qkaeueBCfsWObe7l7J Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 Comment: Public key at http://people.redhat.com/eblake/eblake.gpg Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJXOiEUAAoJEKeha0olJ0NqsboIAI7lGyTEXtQhQvFh4v4HF1CZ 5NavH5BvUjCkcfyOWbwAl7VqJG9Vl1o5GT4uJ0lTX1ggZx8Gnw/S/XtfTfyizYbm lKqz8bXNnvCd05aDksDqcomSfT4dPsMwaKUjsbEG49rv3D7xHKnH30YETVB94bpO VPDiox3OZ9yNINWaS4lM3/GaLJK9FUo6+ODUKuqlk/kMdvIICll+WJvT5uDJe7gS z2bMJT60Jro61Dtzq5DvUFr3q6H38XwCScI0dhlVEvGpUJrlGuic3tbMrilspEWK BJm9pMitVe07EJBdgmSsjGr+TIjleP1+bPkA1iAZ0x25LLMmABg+c2Dk98yKUIg= =4Haj -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --c9H4II1HEeEOJ45qkaeueBCfsWObe7l7J-- From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Mon May 16 18:23:49 2016 Received: (at 23556) by debbugs.gnu.org; 16 May 2016 22:23:49 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:54514 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2QvV-0006RD-An for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 18:23:49 -0400 Received: from bosko.stateful.de ([88.198.38.227]:33351) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1b2QvT-0006Qd-SM for 23556@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 16 May 2016 18:23:48 -0400 Received: by bosko.stateful.de (Postfix, from userid 1006) id CAF0120075; Tue, 17 May 2016 00:23:45 +0200 (CEST) Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 00:23:45 +0200 From: Carsten Hey To: Assaf Gordon , 23556@debbugs.gnu.org Subject: Re: bug#23556: sort(1): misleading description of option -n Message-ID: <20160516222345.GT2316@stateful.de> References: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> <573A1A8F.9020702@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <573A1A8F.9020702@gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) X-Spam-Score: 0.0 (/) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 23556 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: 0.0 (/) Hi, looks like this weekend's (routing?) problems related to mail delivery to @gnu.org addresses, which were also noticed by at least three other people, are resolved now :) I forwarded my mail to the Debian BTS (since it didn't get delivered at first), but the people that read it there did not get its actual intention (and if multiple people do so, the sender likely did something wrong). Reading this Debian bug would not provide any additional useful information. * Assaf Gordon [2016-05-16 15:07 -0400]: > On 05/14/2016 10:17 AM, Carsten Hey wrote: > >the man page sort(1) contains a misleading description of the option -n: > [...] > > > > $ man sort | grep -A1 -- --numeric-sort | sed -n -e 's/^ *//' -e '1!p' > > compare according to string numerical value > [...] > >This description reads as if this command: > > > >$ printf '%s\n' 'x 9' 'x 10' | sort -n > >x 10 > >x 9 > [...] > >but instead, -n stops doing its magic after finding the first > >non-numeric, non-whitespace character. There is a short and simple > >way to summarize this behaviour. > > IIUC, you are disputing the accuracy (or clarity) of the term "string > numerical value" on the manual page, and not the actual behavior of > "sort -n" … Exactly. It seems like many people have problems to understand mails that contain code, but are neither a patch nor complain about the behaviour of a program - maybe my wording was suboptimal too. I'll consider this in future when I write similar mails. > The description says "string numeric value" - which (to me) does not > mean anything other than numeric value (implying letters will not be > sorted properly), but opinions clearly differ. We all know that '1st', '2nd', '3rd', …, '9th', '10th' and so on are sorted in this order if -n is used. We also know that piping lines that match ./[0-9][0-9]* to sort -n (which happens every time I upgrade my mobile's operating system) is a useless use of -n. Neither the description of -n in the man page, nor the explanation how you would read these words explain this difference in any way, at least without an additional definition of "string numeric value". > If you have a suggestion for improved wording, I'm sure they can be > considered for inclusion. If I would not know that "string numeric value" is proper English, I wouldn't consider it to be correct, hence I'm likely the wrong person to suggest a concrete wording, … > the description in the man page is derived from "sort --help", > and thus kept brief. …, especially, when it needs to be that short. I assume that a brief and proper description would either contain the word "beginning" or the word "initial". Suggestions I have at the moment are "sort a text's initial numeric parts", "sort initial numeric parts of a text" and "sort numbers at the beginning of a text", but a native speaker is likely able to find something better and more correct (actually, the initial numeric parts aren't sorted, they are used as sorting key). Due to the need to translate those stings, a change after a release might be better than a change before a release. Thanks, Carsten From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sat Oct 27 18:41:35 2018 Received: (at 23556) by debbugs.gnu.org; 27 Oct 2018 22:41:35 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:46035 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1gGXGw-0003Nr-R3 for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sat, 27 Oct 2018 18:41:35 -0400 Received: from mail-pl1-f170.google.com ([209.85.214.170]:36919) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1gGXGu-0003Na-JE; Sat, 27 Oct 2018 18:41:32 -0400 Received: by mail-pl1-f170.google.com with SMTP id bh10-v6so2071145plb.4; Sat, 27 Oct 2018 15:41:32 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=subject:to:references:from:message-id:date:user-agent:mime-version :in-reply-to:content-language:content-transfer-encoding; bh=48QmSMWLiuVjy3wjliD4Xl1K9LGP/ErUzDWg7XjGkPw=; b=WBH7OBJNyto+XcFXuEJ2jsjCh///L4ES9JvfqY6gwZOkJM7l44MlJ9xXCIJ8nRVAnR Y9+fWlHLaEl5jDAwjfMUvSyxPSTnLHpBDVp+reeuL8EBBF8DwAePN3KGTJMDW2ivYZPq 96kWG3dCSRyVFJfOH4/A7eEMn87r35I2am5tn1VXghMSRiqj7QzgnTWuR2GYhSHUH//b Mm7rsTqf5UMQkLN3bINjO160NNBejsz7HYO7B6KyvT/N8Snf75x9w0pL2rassFP9X7u3 5s2FG65jw8gXDpz6R258dC/lZ0zUprucK5cnl0oBInTxx9OREcLr+GEBjzU7Bqryx3eE I20Q== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:subject:to:references:from:message-id:date :user-agent:mime-version:in-reply-to:content-language :content-transfer-encoding; bh=48QmSMWLiuVjy3wjliD4Xl1K9LGP/ErUzDWg7XjGkPw=; b=gmL1gF1MiYMLhgd/gvZYiuyX7+eh2au9q8W0Fv2w8ioaD96KfFGIoBEL8H0soW2hZV iWEq/x7D0TyDTWfmqz4m6cg/mhAIXnvuFlU2QuKb3Z0vHAoA2TibyNeesL4B1lFugPmm OEDA8X33cvZ9AqnYRT2tCOV2e6NVsQyibCBa/tNaMD09gziW6kwzxYzemLGaymmc2z4S 1vP/P3kUC2bm8i8IURn1CiFGk1qcDjEJ1SZPoOw8OjJL9hN5sdJpXheleqLdcbEgGmoq rTzwOSu6dNgvTQP3ab1jNa0HLxT3/nA98/b5LS7E5BS0DmaPuJfwXEuX1YW0HpaAoMJb 055Q== X-Gm-Message-State: AGRZ1gLTNpvIjRJIpS84IKGzvHv0R4WsZjXRUK6JBl4CjPNGYQjkg+AW wEKk6OrN7zJmVUkUDg9qfePNDmUT X-Google-Smtp-Source: AJdET5dOPCz5308NVi3xOpX/Zf3Jld+N+z5iVMAoAtXRziyv4O3Ca6j7Uduwv0112BW2sucLAejtxw== X-Received: by 2002:a17:902:9b84:: with SMTP id y4-v6mr8738527plp.332.1540680086362; Sat, 27 Oct 2018 15:41:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from tomato.housegordon.com (moose.housegordon.com. [184.68.105.38]) by smtp.googlemail.com with ESMTPSA id s30-v6sm7444907pga.57.2018.10.27.15.41.24 (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Sat, 27 Oct 2018 15:41:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: bug#23556: sort(1): misleading description of option -n To: 23556@debbugs.gnu.org References: <20160514141735.GA17838@buster.stateful.de> <573A1A8F.9020702@gmail.com> <20160516222345.GT2316@stateful.de> From: Assaf Gordon Message-ID: <5feafa84-2a69-2b47-54a7-d6f3cc4e919a@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2018 16:41:23 -0600 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.2.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20160516222345.GT2316@stateful.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Spam-Score: 0.0 (/) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 23556 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -1.0 (-) close 23556 stop (triaging old bugs) On 2016-05-16 4:23 p.m., Carsten Hey wrote: > * Assaf Gordon [2016-05-16 15:07 -0400]: >> >> IIUC, you are disputing the accuracy (or clarity) of the term "string >> numerical value" on the manual page, and not the actual behavior of >> "sort -n" … > > Exactly. It seems like many people have problems to understand mails > that contain code, but are neither a patch nor complain about the > behaviour of a program - maybe my wording was suboptimal too. I'll > consider this in future when I write similar mails. > [...] >> If you have a suggestion for improved wording, I'm sure they can be >> considered for inclusion. > > If I would not know that "string numeric value" is proper English, > I wouldn't consider it to be correct, hence I'm likely the wrong person > to suggest a concrete wording, … With no further follow-ups in 2 years, I'm closing this bug. Discussion can continue by replying to this thread, and patches are always welcomed. -assaf From unknown Sun Jun 22 07:34:08 2025 Received: (at fakecontrol) by fakecontrolmessage; To: internal_control@debbugs.gnu.org From: Debbugs Internal Request Subject: Internal Control Message-Id: bug archived. Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2018 12:24:09 +0000 User-Agent: Fakemail v42.6.9 # This is a fake control message. # # The action: # bug archived. thanks # This fakemail brought to you by your local debbugs # administrator