GNU bug report logs - #24527
Problem while sorting comma separated values using sort command.

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

From: Jash Dave <jashdave23 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Problem while sorting comma separated values using sort command.
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2016 15:14:28 +0530

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

There is problem while sorting comma separated entries (specifically
numbers). Even when the separator symbol is set to comma, it reads all
following columns with numbers, and doesn't treats comma as separator
between following numbers.

If I use command:
sort -t"," -k1 -n Example.csv

Example.csv :
1,100,a,1,a
4,1000,d,4,c
3,1002,c,3,c
22,10,a,2,b

Output:
1,100,a,1,a
22,10,a,2,b
3,1002,c,3,c
4,1000,d,4,c


Expected:
1,100,a,1,a
3,1002,c,3,c
4,1000,d,4,c
22,10,a,2,b

But it works with column 2 or 4, since there are no following numbers.

Regards,
Jash Dave.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 24527 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Jash Dave <jashdave23 <at> gmail.com>, 24527 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#24527: Problem while sorting comma separated values using
 sort command.
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2016 17:35:12 +0200

tag 24527 notabug
close 24527
stop

On 09/24/2016 11:44 AM, Jash Dave wrote:
> There is problem while sorting comma separated entries (specifically
> numbers). Even when the separator symbol is set to comma, it reads all
> following columns with numbers, and doesn't treats comma as separator
> between following numbers.
> 
> If I use command:
> sort -t"," -k1 -n Example.csv
> 
> Example.csv :
> 1,100,a,1,a
> 4,1000,d,4,c
> 3,1002,c,3,c
> 22,10,a,2,b
> 
> Output:
> 1,100,a,1,a
> 22,10,a,2,b
> 3,1002,c,3,c
> 4,1000,d,4,c
> 
> 
> Expected:
> 1,100,a,1,a
> 3,1002,c,3,c
> 4,1000,d,4,c
> 22,10,a,2,b
> 
> But it works with column 2 or 4, since there are no following numbers.

When having trouble with sort, usually the --debug option helps:

  $ sort --debug -t"," -k1 -n
  sort: using ‘en_US.UTF-8’ sorting rules
  sort: key 1 is numeric and spans multiple fields
  1,100,a,1,a
  4,1000,d,4,c
  3,1002,c,3,c
  22,10,a,2,b
  1,100,a,1,a
  ______
  ___________
  22,10,a,2,b
  ______
  ___________
  3,1002,c,3,c
  _______
  ____________
  4,1000,d,4,c
  _______
  ____________

Aha, the key spans multiple fields.
As you want to sort on the first field only, you need to
tell sort to do so:

  $ sort --debug -t"," -k1,1 -n
  sort: using ‘en_US.UTF-8’ sorting rules
  1,100,a,1,a
  4,1000,d,4,c
  3,1002,c,3,c
  22,10,a,2,b
  1,100,a,1,a
  _
  ___________
  3,1002,c,3,c
  _
  ____________
  4,1000,d,4,c
  _
  ____________
  22,10,a,2,b
  __
  ___________

Therefore, I'm marking this as not a bug in sort.

Thanks & have a nice day,
Berny

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