GNU bug report logs - #6007
locale sort ordering confusion

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Message #10 received at 6007-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
To: Vito Di Blas <vito.diblas <at> libero.it>
Cc: 6007-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#6007: sort command in Fedora10
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:28:08 -0600

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On 04/22/2010 03:34 PM, Vito Di Blas wrote:
> and I obtain the  file bbb.txt
> 
> Cari figli, domani
> Cari figli, ieri
> Cari figli, oggi
> Cari figlioli
> Cari figliozzi
> Cari figli, pregate
> Cari figlipucci
> 
> 
> which doesn't look sorted according to my expectation.

Not a bug, if you are in a locale where the collating order discards
punctuation and whitespace as insignificant.

> Then, in WindowsXP, I sort again the file aaa.txt with the command:
> 
> <...>    sort  aaa.txt  > ccc.txt
> 
> and I get the file ccc.txt :
> 
> Cari figli, domani
> Cari figli, ieri
> Cari figli, oggi
> Cari figli, pregate
> Cari figlioli
> Cari figliozzi
> Cari figlipucci

This is due to a difference in the default locales of your two systems.
http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/#Sort-does-not-sort-in-normal-order_0021

Try again with 'LC_ALL=C sort aaa.txt' to see the difference.
Personally, I have 'export LC_COLLATE=C' in my ~/.bashrc in order to
guarantee traditional sorting, while everything else continues to follow
my default locale.

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

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